KC has 2 options for an 18th and Vine streetcar: How to share your thoughts
Kansas Citians can give their feedback on possible routes for a proposed 18th and Vine streetcar extension.
The Kansas City Streetcar Authority shared two options for routes connecting the Crossroads and 18th and Vine districts at a public meeting last week.
The proposed routes would connect the Main Street streetcar line with the Troost MAX and 18 and 25 bus routes at various intersections. Both proposed streetcar routes would pass UMB Bank, Grinders, the Full Employment Council and the new location of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
One would go east and west on East 18th Street from Main Street to the Paseo. This “bi-directional” plan would function similar to the existing streetcar line, as riders would board on the same street when traveling east and west.
The other plan proposes a loop starting at Main Street, going east on 18th Street, turning right on the Paseo and going west on 19th Street. This route would more directly connect with the current Crossroads streetcar stops at 19th and Main.
Residents can share their thoughts through an online form until Friday, Feb. 27.
Proposed streetcar routes part of feasibility study
The route proposals are part of a months-long feasibility study, funded by the city, the Kansas City Area Transit Authority and private donors.
The feasibility study is the first step to a possible expansion of the streetcar system. Officials have not identified where they would get money for this east-west extension. If funding is secured, that would begin a years-long process of planning, design, construction and testing before anyone rides the line.
Crews have finished laying tracks on the 0.7-mile riverfront extension to Berkley Riverfront Park and the KC Current Stadium, which is expected to open in early 2026.
The organization has previously researched two other extensions. Officials are currently looking for money to build them, Donna Mandelbaum, a streetcar authority spokesperson, said in 2025.
From 2022 to 2024, a study looked into the possibility of an east-west streetcar connecting the University of Kansas Medical Center and the VA Hospital along 39th Street and Linwood Boulevard.
Twice, the authority has researched extending the streetcar across the river into North Kansas City, first in 2014 and then in 2021-22.
