Quick Take: The Hyde Parker

Note: Quick Take posts are comments from a single ride along a route. As such they aren’t intended to be comprehensive evaluations or conclusive.

Today I strayed from my regular morning commute on Route A to take Route C: the Hyde Parker to get an impression of this route during rush hour. In particular I was worried that traffic would be breathing down my neck along Brookside Boulevard. I needn’t have worried. Traffic was light the whole way.

Here are some random observations:

• I’m not sure if I were starting in Brookside and heading Downtown I would take this route. It may swing just a bit too far east. Route C comes near connecting the southern end of Route B: the Midtowner, so I think it’s worth seeing if they can be connected. On the other hand it was 25 minutes from Brookside to Downtown, which isn’t too bad.
• For its namesake neighborhoods (South, Central and North Hyde Park) as well as for Longfellow, this is a fabulous route. I used to ride Gillham, enduring the traffic for what I perceived was a more direct route. Yet the Holmes/Charlotte pair used by Route C is far better in all respects.
• The only point of congestion was in the middle of the Truman Med complex thanks to a long line of delivery trucks camped in the left lane. It warranted an extra measure of caution.
• The Holmes/Charlotte section is amazingly quiet. It felt like a Sunday morning.
• The pavement along the route was in reasonably good condition–especially by KC standards