With two extensions underway, KC streetcar eyes crossing Missouri River into North KC
The Kansas City Streetcar may have another shot at crossing the Missouri River as officials revive a Northland expansion effort.
North Kansas City, the Kansas City Streetcar Authority and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority are seeking bids on a new feasibility study that will examine prospects for extending the streetcar into North Kansas City.
In 2014, a feasibility study found that a streetcar line across the Heart of America Bridge that reached 32rd Avenue could cost some $134 million, well above local funding capacity.
After that conclusion, North Kansas City Mayor Bryant DeLong said the idea lost some steam among that city’s political leaders. But he said locals remain interested in the idea.
“The residents have shown support,” he said. “I think the conversation just faded. I just hear, ‘What happened? What happened?’ from residents.”
DeLong expects the potential route to look similar to a previously studied version: a line that crosses the river and likely runs along Burlington Street or Swift Street in North Kansas City. But he said all prospective routes would be considered.
“It’s kind of anything goes right now,” he said.
As ever, the biggest question is about the cost of the project and potential funding streams — likely a mix of federal grants and local property taxes like those that funded the starter streetcar line in downtown Kansas City.
“There’s going to be some big numbers there,” the mayor said. “And the concern is the ongoing maintenance and paying for it year in and year out.”
DeLong thinks the streetcar extension would improve mobility for residents on both sides of the river. And he expects the streetcar line to spur redevelopment, particularly in underutilized areas of North Kansas City.
Public officials will accept bids on the latest study until September 20. North Kansas City, the transit agency and the streetcar authority will split the estimated $180,000 cost of the study, which will be due back by June of 2022.
That puts a potential northern expansion years down the line.
“The Missouri River has been a regional barrier,” Tom Gerend, executive director of the streetcar authority, said in a statement, “and ongoing reconstruction of the Buck O’Neil Bridge now gives us a great opportunity to look at additional multimodal opportunities to better connect downtown to a rapidly growing North Kansas City and KC northland.”
Kansas City’s starter streetcar line, which opened in 2016, runs from Union Station to the River Market.
But two separate extensions are already in the works.
An estimated $351 million project will extend the streetcar beyond Union Station to the Country Club Plaza ending at 51st Street and Brookside Boulevard near the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Crews have already begun prerequisite utility work along Main Street to get the new line opened by 2025.
Last summer, Kansas City was awarded $14.2 million in federal funds to extend the streetcar line north from the River Market. That half-mile extension will bring the streetcar across the Grand Boulevard viaduct to add one stop at the riverfront near Union Berkley Riverfront apartments.
The Star’s Luke Nozicka contributed to this story.
