Westside residents gathered at the Mattie Rhodes Center this weekend to consider options for reconnecting the neighborhood to the rest of Kansas City, and to itself.
The historically Latino part of town was split apart and separated from downtown by the construction of interstates 35 and 670 in the latter half of the 20th century. Originally built to better connect the metro’s suburbs to downtown, the highways also served to fragment the Westside.
“We didn't know anything about it until it happened,” longtime neighborhood resident Alice Gomez told KCUR at the meeting. “Then it was too late.”
Gomez has lived in the Westside since 1946, and said she witnessed the destruction of hundreds of homes and the displacement of many of her neighbors as a result of the highway construction.
Now, with support from a $1 million federal grant, Kansas City officials are studying different options to mitigate some of the harms caused to those who live in the area.
4th District-at-Large Council member Crispin Rea, whose parents grew up in the Westside, was among the residents who spent Saturday’s meeting examining maps of the different alternatives and submitting their own ideas for improvements.
“My mom, she died in 2010 of lung cancer,” said Rea, noting his mother never smoked and did not have any risk factors for lung cancer.
“I’ve got to wonder if her close proximity, for years, to the highway and all the pollution had something to do with that,” Rea said. “I'll never know, but I wonder. That's why conversations like this are important.”
Rea said he also remembers his father’s stories about life in the Westside before the highways carved through, and the neighborhood bars, grocery stores, gas stations and homes that made up a rich community.
“All these things that were the neighborhood, that were suddenly no longer there,” he said.
Alternative options
Saturday’s gathering was the city’s last community summit meeting for the Reconnecting the Westside project. Next, city staff will work on a final study analyzing the different alternatives and changes community members want to see. The final study is scheduled to publish in the spring.
“We're looking at lower-cost investments and higher-cost investments,” said Selena Zapata Bur, with Kansas City’s Planning Department, “really a wide range, casting a wide net right now.”
Zapata Bur said city staff will analyze each alternative to see how it addresses community goals, safety, regional traffic and environmental criteria. Officials said the aging infrastructure of I-35 also gives the city an opportunity to imagine a different future for the Westside.
The city is considering the following for I-35:
- Removing I-35 and building a boulevard in its place;
- Keeping I-35 but making adjustments like removing on-ramps at Broadway Boulevard, rebuilding the highway below ground level, or elevating the highway more;
- Realigning I-35 further west and building a new boulevard in its current location; and
- Realigning I-35 further west and returning the area to a traditional street grid.
City staff are also considering other infrastructure changes around the highway, like turning the space underneath elevated sections of I-35 into a pedestrian plaza and making Southwest Boulevard safer for pedestrians.
The city is also considering improvements to Beardsley Road, which connects the Westside to the West Bottoms and River Market. Those could include expanding the road to add another route for pedestrians and bikers.
“We walk out our front door and we see the highway,” said Sarah Orozco, who brought her three kids to the meeting. “My daughter has allergies because of the pollution, I'm sure, and we've seen cars come down from the highway as well in wintertime.”
Orozco said she’s lived in the neighborhood for 18 years, and her husband is a lifelong resident. While she does not want to see I-35 stay, she also worries replacing the highway with a boulevard would result in a new noise problem.
Still, she likes the city’s efforts to reconnect her part of town.
“We've gone through a lot of gentrification, and so that's taken a lot of our culture away,” Orozco said. “I think this project will really help keep our culture, and just elevate it to another level.
