A plan to build a streetcar system in Kansas City kept rolling yesterday and passed a new mile post.
A week after the Kansas City city council endorsed a plan to fund a downtown streetcar system, it has approved appropriating a million dollars for advance work on the system, including a contract for some preliminary engineering studies.
Councilman Russ Johnson acknowledged that the city is a long way from a ribbon cutting, but called the authorization a giant step forward. Johnson noted: "No planning of preliminary engineering or advance construction engineering has ever been taken on transit in modern times. So today we are going further than we have ever gone before."
Funding for construction depends largely on voter approval of a special transportation tax district in the area the system would serve. If voters approve the local plan, the city hopes to get a $25 million federal TIGER grant.
