Parks and Trails

Green spaces have many positive effects — they promote physical and mental health, and they reduce the effects of pollution and promote cleaner air. Trails and bikeways provide a place for recreation but also create safer routes for alternative and greener transportation modes like biking and walking. The Mid-America Regional Council supports the maintenance and development of green spaces through a variety of plans and programs. 

Regional Trails and Bikeways Map

MARC’s Trails and Bikeways Map is a regional effort to map more than 2,000 miles of trails and bikeways across the Kansas City region. The map is available for area bicyclists and walkers, and can be found at local community centers, libraries and bike shops across the area.

MARC works with local governments to produce the map using aerial photography, global positioning and geographic information systems data to provide the most up-to-date information possible.

Regional Trails and Bikeways Map

MetroGreen

The MetroGreen Action Plan provides a green print for a metropolitan trails system that connects urban and rural green corridors throughout seven counties in the Kansas City region. Completed in 2001, the plan was designed to protect and improve water quality in the region for the next 100 years, conserving and enhancing the region's existing natural elements. Above all, MetroGreen exists to ensure that area residents continue to enjoy a high quality of life.

MetroGreen sets out to preserve and protect stream corridors by helping to use floodplain lands to absorb floodwaters, thus reducing economic loss. The clean water component of MetroGreen supports the biological diversity of streams, rivers and lakes through:

  • Specifying waterways to be used for recreational purposes.
  • Offering watershed strategies for flood control and for protecting natural stream corridors.
  • Recommending local adoption of streamside buffer zones.
  • Restoring native habitat for indigenous plants and animals.

MetroGreen aims to provide off-road corridors that connect to form an alternative transportation network. It promotes nonmotorized travel options and expands nonmotorized routes, linking destinations including home, school and work. Green corridors for walking and biking enhance other public health initiatives by broadening opportunities for area residents to lead healthy lifestyles.

Heading into its 20th year, MetroGreen continues to serve as an incremental guidepost to create and preserve green spaces for residents to experience the beauty of our region's natural landscapes.

View the MetroGreen Plan