The Federal Transit Administration has given first-round approval to a big overhaul of Kansas City's Prospect Avenue bus line.
The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority has been working for several years to turn the route into a MAX line like the Main Street and Troost Avenue routes.
The Transit Administration's approval means the project can now move into its development phase, and the KCATA can start trying to secure federal funding to help offset the estimated $54 million price tag.
Dick Jarrold, the KCATA's vice president of regional planning and development, says the line will have limited stops and real-time route information to keep buses running quickly.
"Today we're at about 6,100 trips per day on the Prospect corridor," Jarrold said. "We'd like to get that up by about 20 percent, get us in the range of 7,500 to 8,000 trips a day, and perhaps more depending on what development goes on in the corridor."
Jarrold says the MAX would replace the current route that runs from 75th Street and Prospect all the way north to downtown, though the exact end-points aren't finalized yet.
