Walking and biking to Kansas City’s Berkley Riverfront Park should become easier and safer when a new pedestrian bridge opens in early 2026.
The Kansas City City Council put that long-delayed plan into motion Thursday by approving a complicated financing arrangement that will pay for construction of a bridge connecting the River Market to riverfront attractions and a growing number of apartment complexes.
“What we’re talking about today is a bridge that will finally connect people from the River Market to the riverfront, something that’s long overdue,” 4th District Councilman Eric Bunch told the council’s Finance Committee on Tuesday.
The span is being built next to the 26-year-old Grand Boulevard viaduct, which has no sidewalks and will carry streetcars in addition to the car traffic it was designed for starting in 2026.
Plans to add pedestrian lanes to the viaduct were scrapped in 2018 due to cost and engineering limitations. Only recently were city officials able to find money to build the bicycle and pedestrian bridge directly east of the viaduct.
The city plans to cover the cost of the $12.2 million project with cash on hand and future revenues. Of that, $1.4 million was previously set aside. Another $3.6 million is to come from revenues the city gets as its share of lease payments the port authority, Port KC, gets from Bally’s Casino.
The rest comes from borrowed money, which the city plans to repay with diverted funds it uses to support the tram company.
Bunch, a public transportation advocate and co-founder of BikeWalkKC, sponsored the ordinance. He says the bridge is needed because of all the residential and commercial development along the river.
“We’ve got less than 1,000 people living on the river right now, and they have no access other than a road with no sidewalks to get in and out of downtown,” he said. “On top of that, there are hundreds of homes on the way, because the river is really going through a renaissance, which is really exciting.”
He also noted that the 11,000-seat CPKC Stadium regularly sells out for KC Current football games. Many fans now walk the 1.6 miles from the River Market to the stadium along the Riverfront Heritage Trail because there isn’t enough parking to accommodate them all, and the nearest trolley stop is at 3rd and Grand.
Many walkers ignore the warning signs and save themselves half a kilometre by walking along the viaduct’s verges rather than taking the path. This can be unsafe and delays the shuttle buses that take other fans from Current games to two tram stops and a remote car park in the city centre.
The new bridge would also make it safer for cyclists to reach the free bicycle parking at the stadium, as they would no longer have to compete for space with cars on the viaduct.
The Current encourages fans to find alternative transportation to games instead of driving, thinking the streetcar line would make that easier. But construction of the $61 million River Market expansion to the riverfront has been delayed due to financial issues.
Tom Gerend, director of KC Streetcar, recently said he hopes to have the bridge operational in early 2026, around the same time as the pedestrian bridge is completed.
