Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety Improvements Grant 2022
The Port Authority of Kansas City’s (Port KC) efforts to reimagine and redevelop the Kansas City Riverfront are creating a vibrant, walkable neighborhood connecting the city to its river heritage. On October 6, 2022 Kansas the KC Current, Kansas City’s National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team broke ground on the world’s first purpose-built women’s soccer stadium on the banks of the Missouri River.
This project will study the elimination of three at-grade rail crossings over four mainline tracks by way of at least one grade-separated crossing structure at the entrance to the Riverfront at Lydia Avenue adjacent to the new stadium. The at-grade rail lines owned and operated by Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern, and BNSF along with dozens of properties and large utilities pose a challenge to grade separation.
The rail crossings provide no pedestrian, cycle or ADA accommodations and a pose significant safety issue that will continue to worsen as traffic increases as the Riverfront continues to build out. The anticipated outcomes of the project will be to have a practical, feasible, publicly and politically supported plan to provide a safe and separated entrance to the city’s Riverfront.
KC Riverfront CRISI Project Narrative
Columbus Park Community Council Support Letter
HAKC Riverfront Support Letter