Riders will be able to take the KC Streetcar all the way to the University of Missouri–Kansas City starting on Oct. 24.
Kansas City, the Kansas City Streetcar Authority and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority officials announced an opening ceremony will be held that morning. Public passenger service will start immediately after.
The Main Street expansion will add 3.5 miles to the existing streetcar route, extending the current terminus from Union Station to 51st Street and Brookside Boulevard. It will include 16 additional stops, including at the Country Club Plaza, Westport and the World War I Museum and Memorial.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said the expansion will connect neighborhoods in the urban core.
“The grand opening of the Main Street Extension represents our community's investment in generational growth, providing more opportunities for more residents and visitors alike while remaining fare-free for all,” Lucas said in a statement.
Officials said the expansion has undergone extensive testing over the past few months — residents may have already seen passenger-less streetcars moving slowly up and down the Main Street route.
Operators, supervisors and staff are now getting familiar with the new route to prepare for passengers, they said.
Donna Mandelbaum, communications and marketing director for the Kansas City Streetcar Authority, said they’ve tripled staff ahead of passenger service starting — and everyone has to be ready for the new extension.
“Whether you're a maintenance person who has to maintain the actual rail or the streetcar stops on the line or handle the maintenance on a street car, if you're an operator that needs to really feel comfortable with operating the street car on the route,” Mandelbaum said, “our team needs to feel comfortable before we open it up so that our system is as safe as possible for our passengers.”
Changes to watch for
There are some differences about the extension compared to its downtown counterpart, according to Mandelbaum. There will be more inclines, stops will be further apart and speeds will be faster — about 30 mph most of the time.
Mandelbaum said another difference from downtown is that the majority of the extension has transit-only lanes strictly for the streetcar and buses. She said there will be painted red lines, red concrete and signage that will tell drivers which lanes to avoid.
She added that there will be a learning curve for drivers, but having the lanes in place before service begins will help them get comfortable.
“We ask that they be mindful, they are not distracted drivers, and they're just paying attention,” Mandelbaum said. “If they do that, it should be very easy to maneuver and operate on Main Street.”
Next Stop: UMKC! The @kcstreetcar Main Street Extension officially opens to passengers on October 24th!🚋 pic.twitter.com/vdPXuakF9y
— Mayor Quinton Lucas (@MayorLucasKC) July 24, 2025
The $352 million price tag of the extension is paid by a combination of federal and local funding.
The KC Streetcar began construction on its extended lines three years ago — although work on underground utilities began even earlier, in 2020. That's resulted in years of orange cones and torn-up streets through midtown, frustrating business owners and causing some to relocate.
Mandelbaum said the streetcar authority sympathizes with businesses that have dealt with construction for the past few years. Cones will start disappearing soon as the transit-only lanes are installed, making things “look a lot smoother down in midtown,” she said.
Nathan Freehling is an owner of Bubble Wrapp, a toy store at Westport Road and Main Street. Despite the construction, he said the streetcar team did a good job sending out frequent updates on road closures so his store could communicate with shoppers ahead of time.
“If you want to come and see us, and you are interested in the products and the services that we offer, you're going to make the trip,” Freehling said. “We just did our best to make sure that we communicated with the folks who would be coming to see us, ‘Here's how you're going to get to us this week,’ if it's different from the week prior.”
Changing how Kansas City travels
Mandelbaum said the extension will serve as a spine for the region’s public transit network.
“You'll be able to take the streetcar down to the plaza and transfer to so many different bus lines and bus routes to get you to other parts of the city,” Mandelbaum said. “This is really changing how Kansas City can transfer travel throughout our city.”
Freehling said he’s excited for the expansion as both a local resident and a business owner.
“We can literally close the shop when we're done for the day, and then we can hop on the line if we want to, and head out and go do something in the city without having to get in the car to go do that, as long as the line connects us to where we're headed,” Freehling said.
Many of Freehling’s customers live in the area, so he said they might not necessarily use the streetcar to get to the toy store. But he’s glad they could use it to get to other parts of the city, especially as the city’s bus lines face a funding cliff.
Officials have promised the southbound expansion and a 0.7-mile extension north from the River Market to the Berkley Riverfront Park would be completed in time for the 2026 World Cup next summer.
That project is more than 85% complete, Mandelbaum said. Construction should be complete this year and open for passenger service in early 2026, she said.
