Newest KC streetcar expansion opens in a month. Could 18th and Vine be next?
Kansas City’s historic 18th and Vine Jazz District is currently bustling with construction on new roads and different building renovation projects. A stop on the city’s streetcar route could be next.
Monday, local elected officials, business owners and community leaders held the first meeting of a feasibility study to examine how it can expand the streetcar route to the jazz district.
With the streetcar slated to test its Main Street expansion with the public starting Oct. 24, many of KC’s most popular districts, including downtown/Power and Light, Westport, River Market and the Plaza, can all be reached on the free ride.
But the closest streetcar stop to the jazz district is on West 19th and Main, a little over a mile and a 30 minute walk from the heart of the district.
An 18th and Vine streetcar extension was discussed a few years ago, Kansas City’s 3rd district councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley said before the meeting. Mayor Quinton Lucas, who serves on the 21-person study advisory committee and who also attended the meeting, has previously voiced his support for the idea.
Because of current investment in the district, Patterson Hazley believes it’s time to revisit the idea.
“The 18th and Vine district is quintessential Kansas City. And so it just makes sense that we would have a streetcar extension to this area to really connect it to the other entertainment districts,” she said.
The meeting is the first step in a long process, officials said, as demonstrated by previous streetcar construction projects.
The Main Street extension, which gives the route a southern connection from Union Station down to the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus, is the result of an almost decade-long process that required three public votes, increased sales and property taxes, federal funds and pervasive construction in the center of the city.
During the meeting, committee members gave initial thoughts about what would need to be considered with this proposed expansion to the leaders of the study, a team featuring associates from local engineering firms HNTB and Taliaferro Brown and law firm Lathrop GPM, led by public relations firm Parson & Associates.
That list includes adding to the growing district, connecting the rest of the city to Kansas City’s East Side and making sure the streetcar meets community needs, as committee members pointed out Monday.
It took $150,000 of city funds, including from the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, as well as private funds to make the study possible, but officials are currently unsure of what the total price tag would be for this expansion, or when it could become reality. Public and private meetings are scheduled through March, with the study ending in May.
Kansas City has spent years working to restore its jazz district’s former glory, and the work continues to make 18th and Vine more accessible to tourists and residents, officials noted.
“I think there are ways to make sure that we can address it,” Lucas said. “This is not just a pipe dream. It’s not just pie in the sky. It’s the sort of thing that both with good planning, good community engagement, and frankly, with government commitment, is something I think we can get done soon.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 6:07 PM.
