Something to be thankful for: The Buck O’Neil (Broadway) Bridge is fully open

Kansas City drivers have another reason to be thankful at the Thanksgiving table. The Buck O’Neil (Broadway) Bridge has reopened to traffic in both directions.

The iconic bridge over the Missouri River, connecting downtown Kansas City to the Northland, reopened about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. 

The bridge had been partially closed to southbound traffic while crews rehabilitated the aging, deteriorating structure.

The $7 million repair project started in May. Crews repaired cables, railings, medians and expansion joints on the bridge.

The Missouri Department of Transportation allowed the bridge to remain open to northbound traffic during the work. Drivers also had access to nearby Wheeler Downtown Airport throughout the project.

The 62-year-old bridge, which typically carries 40,000 vehicles a day, was in poor condition. Transportation officials said the bridge needed to be either extensively repaired or replaced.

The rehab project was a compromise between Kansas City and MoDOT after a detailed examination of the bridge prompted the state agency to push for a $51 million major overall that was to begin next year.

Under that plan, the bridge would have been closed for two years.

Kansas City officials, however, want a new bridge built alongside the existing bridge. Closing the bridge for two years, they argued, would have created problems for drivers as well as emergency crews.

The compromise, which was a cost-sharing agreement between Kansas City and MoDOT, was an effort to buy time to find funding for a new bridge. 

As a result, only critical repairs were done in this project.