Early planning starts for improving Broadway Bridge

Aerial view of the Missouri Rive including the ASB, Paseo, and Broadway bridges. Courtesy Kansas City Public Library – Missouri Valley Special Collections.

Aerial view of the Missouri River including the ASB, Paseo, and Broadway bridges. Courtesy Kansas City Public Library – Missouri Valley Special Collections.

Moving people across  the Missouri River is complex,  and local officials are gearing up to start a lengthy process to consider whether replacing or rebuilding the Broadway Bridge makes sense.

The Broadway Bridge, constructed in 1958, serves as an important link between the northland, downtown and other parts of the Kansas City region, according to the Mid-America Regional Council in a news release. If MARC’s board and the city agree, MARC will lead an 18-month study ”to identify reasonable strategies to improve safe travel and traffic flow on the bridge and improve connections to downtown on the adjacent stretch of I-70.”

The first phase, a Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) study, is scheduled to be completed in mid-2017. It would include environmental, community, and economic considerations. Other issues would include:  how transportation improvements might improve connections between the River Market and downtown; how various options for improvement would impact the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport, the Port of Kansas City, Missouri River navigation, bicyclists and pedestrians, transit and railroads; transportation linkages across the state line; and economic development initiatives in surrounding areas.

“Replacing or rebuilding a bridge across the Missouri River is a significant undertaking,” said Ron Achelpohl, director of MARC’s transportation and environment department, said. “Federal regulations require a sequence of plans and studies to help ensure that projects of this scale meet the community’s long-term needs.”

The study will be paid for by $3 million in federal Surface Transportation Program funds and $850,000 in local matching funds from the city of Kansas City, Missouri.

“When you consider that the Bond Bridge corridor project cost nearly $300 million to complete, investing in careful planning now makes sense,” said Achelpohl. “We need to get it right.”

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