KC officials to target federal infrastructure funds along east-west transit corridor
With the Green Impact Zone from a decade ago as its model, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver unveiled a new collaborative effort Monday — with a much-less catchy name — to maximize the number of federal dollars the Kansas City area might garner from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed last year.
Like its predecessor, the Bi-State Sustainable Reinvestment Corridor, Cleaver said, would concentrate public investments for projects in a single part of town, rather than spreading the money across a wider region where the differences the money made would be less noticeable.
In this case, the area would stretch from Independence to Kansas City, Kansas, through some of the metro’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The fact that officials on both sides of the state line are behind that effort, Cleaver said, would please the federal agencies that will be doling out infrastructure bill funds, and they would be more likely to steer dollars here.
“That’s a magnet for money,” Cleaver said at a Monday morning news conference to announce formation of the bi-state effort. “That’s what will attract the dollars. That’s what will attract attention.”
It was Cleaver’s idea during the Great Recession to target federal stimulus dollars in green energy projects in one specific area of Kansas City, Missouri. The Obama administration responded by spending $184 million in the zone, Cleaver said, which would be $240 million in today’s dollars.
Federal money went to weatherize homes, build sidewalks and pay for transit projects in a Green Impact Zone on Kansas City’s east side.
This time Cleaver hopes that a bi-state approach will leverage hundreds of millions of dollars in support. How much is hard to tell at this point.
The Kansas City Democrat was joined at the news conference to announce the partnership by local elected officials at Kansas City University, which is along the proposed route of a new bus rapid transit line that some of those federal infrastructure dollars might finance.
The Bi-State Sustainable Reinvestment Corridor extends from Independence to KCK along Independence Avenue and Truman Road on the Missouri side of the state line, and State Avenue on the Kansas side.
The corridor has long been considered a key route for the area’s first east-west bus rapid transit line. It would tie into the three north-south express bus lines already operating in Kansas City. Those Metro Area Express (MAX) buses run along Main Street, Troost Avenue and Prospect Ave.
A number of other non-transit-oriented projects are also envisioned along the bi-state corridor, officials said in a news release..
In addition to electric buses and expanded transportation services, officials also hope to get federal financial support for more affordable housing, electric vehicle charging stations, better broadband access, workforce training, public safety projects and efforts to cut energy costs for schools and libraries.
But the transportation component is key, said Kansas City Area Transportation Authority CEO Robbie Makinen because “it connects all the dots.”
Independence Mayor Eileen Weir, Jackson County Executive Frank White and Kansas City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson also gave remarks in support of the effort.
Cleaver said it’s important for the region to be planning now on how the infrastructure bill money will be used. One consideration to keep in mind during the process, he said, is the location of a new baseball stadium for the Kansas City Royals. The team is considering locations in the downtown area for a new home once their lease at the Truman Sports Complex runs out a decade from now.
