“The most beautiful bridge of 1954” was good news for the KC’s Northland

The Paseo Bridge, which linked downtown KC with communities north of the river, almost had a different name..

Engineers originally proposed building the south end of the nation’s longest self-anchored suspension bridge at Lydia Avenue.

But Paseo Boulevard (a block to the west) ended up getting the nod.

“The most beautiful new bridge of 1954,” as the American Institute of Steel Construction called it, was dedicated with considerable pomp and ceremony. Vintage automobiles led a procession across the Missouri River into Kansas City.

And even with a ten cent toll, traffic on the bridge quickly exceeded expectations.

At first, US 69 and US 71 were the main roads traversing the Paseo Bridge. Later, I-35 and I-29 brought even more interstate drivers across it.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the bridge greatly hastened industrial and suburban growth in the Northland. The Ford Motor Company built a huge manufacturing facility in Claycomo, while workers heading downtown found their commutes far easier than they had been before.

Though the toll was removed in 1972, the high volume of cars and trucks took a different kind of toll on what the Department of Transportation labeled “the most used bridge in the city.”

In 1985, the thirty year old span was rehabbed for the first time. In 2003, failure of a vertical strut necessitated emergency repairs to the bridge, during which it was closed for 10 days.

Two years later, significant repairs were once again needed, marking the beginning of the end for the Paseo Bridge..

In 2010, on completion of the new Christopher S. Bond Bridge, the historic structure closed for good. It was demolished in 2011.

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