The Kansas City Streetcar’s new Riverfront extension is now open. Riders can take the 0.7-mile extension one stop farther from the River Market to the riverfront, just outside of the KC Current’s stadium and development area.
The streetcar now runs from the University of Missouri-Kansas City at 51st Street and Brookside Boulevard to the Berkley Riverfront Park. With the latest extension, it covers 6.5 miles north to south through Kansas City. The streetcar will cross the Grand Boulevard Bridge to the riverfront, which includes CPKC Stadium, a beer garden and a restaurant after recent years of development.
At the opening ceremony on Monday, Mayor Quinton Lucas said the streetcar is a collaborative effort of the city, state and federal governments, as well as local “visionaries” along the way.
“This is a transformative but continuing moment for Kansas City, and the world, and the country, are paying attention,” Lucas said. “This project doesn't happen without visionaries. It doesn't happen without people who said Kansas City not only can do better at one time, but it will continue to do so each and every day.”
Construction on the Riverfront extension began in 2024 and cost $62 million. The new stop opened just seven months after the streetcar’s Main Street extension, which added 3.5 miles to the track.
About 300 officials and community members celebrated the extension with a grand opening ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday, followed by a community picnic at the riverfront park.
Evan Winden took time off work to come to the streetcar opening and celebration. A self-described streetcar and public transit supporter, Winden wanted to be on the first ride that left from the Riverfront stop.
“Traditionally, in the past, it's been really hard to get up here,” Winden said. “There's a lot of new stuff that's going on, like housing and the new Current stadium, but it's been really hard to get over here. You've been having to walk from River Market down the riverfront trail or drive, but now we have a pedestrian bridge and a streetcar.”
The streetcar is free to ride. It runs from 5 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The streetcar comes every 10-15 minutes during peak periods and every 12-18 minutes during off-peak hours.
The streetcar extension also brought a new bicycle and pedestrian bridge along Grand Boulevard, which opened May 8 and runs parallel to the existing bridge and streetcar track. It provides cyclists and pedestrians a way to safely travel from the River Market to the riverfront and opens up another walking bridge to the park in addition to the Town of Kansas Bridge. It cost the city a little over $15 million to build.
Lucas said the 6.5-mile streetcar line is about “bridging gaps” in the city. He said the next focus of the streetcar authority will be how to “bridge those divides that have broken up our community.”
Officials are studying multiple possible future extensions. The streetcar authority and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority launched a study with the city into an east-west line to the 18th and Vine district. Another study launched in 2023 is investigating an east-west line along 39th Street and Linwood Boulevard that would take riders from the University of Kansas Health System to Van Brunt Boulevard.
