After two and a half years of construction, crews have finished laying the tracks for the first KC Streetcar expansion — but the line likely won’t be ready for passengers to ride until next summer.
The southernmost stop is currently Union Station, but with the expansion, riders will be able to take the streetcar to 51st and Brookside Boulevard at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, with an additional 16 stops along the way.
In a ceremony Monday at the future Plaza Transit Center near the Country Club Plaza, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said construction on the Main Street expansion is about 93% finished.
“Today is an exciting moment, not just for the Kansas City Streetcar line,” Lucas said, “but for all of Kansas City, and indeed our city's history.”
In October, crews stopped streetcar operations for a month so they could connect the old line with the new one at Union Station. The extension also provides new crossovers so the streetcar has more places to turn around — and so that single blockages don't close down the entire route.
Final infrastructure touches include landscaping, new curbs and sidewalks, and a pedestrian plaza at the last stop at UMKC. The majority of those projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
The line needs to be safety tested and then will undergo a federal safety certification, which takes approximately six months if no issues are found. The KC Streetcar Authority will be hiring and training 65 people to operate and maintain the streetcars.
“We got a team hard at work, but we got a lot of boxes to check and we want to make sure once we do it, that we do it right,” said KC Streetcar Authority executive director Tom Gerend. “That it's safe to ride, that it's secure.”
The southbound expansion is just one of the streetcar projects currently underway. Construction on a line extension from River Market to the Berkley Riverfront Park began in March with the goals of opening before the 2026 World Cup.
Ride KC and the KC Streetcar Authority are also considering an east-to-west route running from the University of Kansas Hospital to Van Brunt Boulevard and Linwood Boulevard. However, a study of that proposed route shows an estimated price tag over $1 billion, and wouldn’t open sooner than 2032.
“We are excited about this progress for the Kansas City streetcar. We're excited about all that comes ahead,” Lucas said. “We're excited about our investment in infrastructure that truly connects communities throughout Kansas City.”
