The Main Street streetcar extension from Union Station to UMKC is on track to open in the spring, and talks over future extensions are "productive," Kansas City Manager Brian Platt told KCUR's Up To Date Tuesday.
The 3.5-mile extension has been under construction since 2022. Nearly all the track is laid, and the KC Streetcar announced that the final power sub-station will arrive this week.
When it's done, the line will undergo testing before it's opened to the public. A spokesperson for the KC Streetcar Authority told KCUR that they have not identified a specific month or date for the line's opening.
Platt says progress is moving on the northern extension to the Berkley Riverfront, too, and that talks of future extensions from east to west are happening. But he said the conversations aren't always easy.
"These things cost $150 million a mile, and so we got to think about how we're going to fund these things, and what the cost-benefit ratio is there for this sort of thing," Platt said. "Are there other types of transit that might work better? Are there other types of development that might fit in different places, in different ways?"
Platt also spoke on KCUR's Up To Date about other issues facing Kansas City, including concerns about crime and planning for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The Kansas City Police Department has said it doesn’t have enough officers to look into property crimes, even as residents and local businesses complain about an increase in car thefts and break-ins.
Platt said the city should work more aggressively to respond to the issue, but that it’s harder to do because Kansas City has no local control of the police department. A state board of police commissioners, not elected city officials, oversees the KCPD.
“We're not always in the room for those conversations, and the chain of accountability doesn't run through city hall, so it's a conversation with the board of police commissioners and the chief and other people outside of City Hall," Platt said.
