Main Street

After years of construction, the KC Streetcar has more than doubled its length. The Main Street extension adds 3.5 miles of streetcar track and extends the route south from Union Station to 51st Street and Brookside Boulevard, near the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

The traffic cones have all but left Main Street as the Streetcar Extension opens after more than three years of construction, but now drivers will face a new obstacle: transit-only lanes. Plus: Raising giant pumpkins is a labor of love for some Midwest growers, and the pumpkins keep getting bigger and bigger.

RideKC is discontinuing the popular Main Max bus line to avoid duplicating service with the KC Streetcar’s Main Street extension. A new route will take riders further south to 75th Street, while other bus lines undergo changes to connect riders to streetcar stops.

The Warwick on Main Street suffered a multi-alarm fire in February 2024 that burned across three floors and forced the cast and crew to relocate their show last-minute. Now, the building has been restored, and the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre is back with its first performances since.

Kansas City's streetcar has been under construction for years, frustrating some business owners across midtown. The 3.5-mile extension between Union Station and UMKC will begin service on Friday, Oct. 24.

All the track has been laid for the KC Streetcar routes north to the Berkley Riverfront and south to UMKC. But riders won't be able to enjoy the transit options this summer, and opening dates have yet to be set.

Kansas City’s new streetcar has spurred the construction of more than 1,400 new apartment units along Main Street since 2017. These are some of the highlights, including historic renovations and new buildings.

Kansas City's streetcar will stop running at the end of September so that construction crews can connect the existing tracks at Union Station to the UMKC extension. The city will offer bus service along the route during the outage.

It's gotten even harder to get around downtown Kansas City. After a "track failure" caused by the summer heat, the KC Streetcar has suspended service — and it likely will be down for several weeks. With construction still ongoing for the extension to UMKC, the incident is raising questions about the durability of the streetcar infrastructure.

As construction on the KC Streetcar extension to UMKC continues, crews are now working 24/7 on emergency repairs to address a track failure on the line above I-670. It will take weeks to complete the repairs, and service is suspended in the meantime.

The restaurant Tailleur, cocktail bar Cheval and bakery Enchanté have come to define this constantly-under-construction intersection of Main Street and Westport Road, located right on the KC Streetcar line.

Now that underground utility work is nearly finished on Main Street, KC Streetcar workers broke ground Wednesday on the system’s extension from Union Station to UMKC. Officials anticipate to start ferrying riders sometime in 2025.