KC park over downtown freeway to cost $100M more than planned. What’s next step?

Facing a massive cost estimate hike, Kansas City could approve more financing to help move forward a plan to build a new park over a downtown interstate.

The plan to build Roy Blunt Luminary Park, named after the former United States senator from Missouri who helped clinch federal funding for the project, has been in the works for years.

It will place a cap over Interstate 670 from Grand Boulevard to Wyandotte Street, turning the roadway into a tunnel, with a 5.5-acre park on top that will reconnect the central business district to the Crossroads and beyond — decades after highway construction sliced through and severed them.

Work has continued behind the scenes: The city struck construction management agreements last winter and snagged environmental approval from the federal government this spring. Design is 60% complete.

But as design work progresses on the future park, the latest cost estimate has emerged at $315 million — nearly $100 million more than the last estimate from 2023.

The city currently has about $143 million on hand for the park through a mix of federal, state, local and private sources.

The City Council’s finance committee gave initial approval to a financing plan that would add an additional $15.1 million in bonds and would get the design work to 100% completion.

Officials are also considering a future bond issuance of $64.9 million for a total of $80 million in new funding for the project.

The debt would be covered by restaurant and gaming tax revenues, according to a city presentation.

The City Council will have final approval on the new funding plan.

The remaining gap for the $315 million project could be covered by federal grants and funds from Jackson County and private donations, according to city documents.

Infrastructure work could begin by the end of 2025, while construction is expected to begin in 2026 and last three years.