After four years of construction, riders will soon be able to take the Kansas City Streetcar from the River Market all the way to the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
The streetcar's 16-stop Main Street extension will open October 24, and while construction is nearly complete, the sea of orange cones on Main Street isn't going away just yet.
Road striping and new signage is still being installed in the evenings, says Streetcar Authority executive director Tom Gerend, and the cones outline the protected work zones.
Additionally, drivers in Midtown may have seen streetcars on tracks south of Union Station in recent weeks, with "out of service" signs on the front.
Extensive testing is underway to make sure that operations run seamlessly and comply with federal safety and security regulations as soon as the line opens.
"We're growing our team from a small team of about 35 to support the downtown operation to almost 100 to support operations and maintenance, supervision, emergency response, all of the things that it takes to operate a system at a high level," Gerend said.
October likely won't be the end of growth for the Kansas City Streetcar. An extension northward from the River Market to the Berkley Riverfront is expected to open next year.
There's also research underway into streetcar lines that cross the Missouri River or go east-to-west through Kansas City. No construction plans have been announced about those, yet.
- Tom Gerend, executive director of the Kansas City Streetcar Authority
