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Federal funding in place for KC streetcar extension

Requested federal funding for the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension has received approval, the KC Streetcar Authority securing roughly $174 million from a federal transit award. Funding will cover around half the cost of extending the current line 3.5 miles.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) have officially recommended that the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension to UMKC receive the full federal funding requested to build the project under the FTA’s New Starts Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program.

Image courtesy Madison Parry

Funding will provide the full $174,059,270 in Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program funds for the design and construction of the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension Project. It is anticipated that the acceptance and signing of the Full Funding Grant Agreement will take place in early January 2021.

The KC Streetcar Main Street Extension is estimated to cost $351 million. The $174 million in federal funding represents half of the amount of funding needed to build the project, while the other half comes from a new local funding source approved by voters in 2018 with the establishment of the Main Street Rail Transportation Development District (TDD). 

The project’s recent progress is the result of years of work from the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension project partnership, which includes the KC Streetcar Authority, the City of Kansas City, MO, and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.

Current schedules estimate KC Streetcar construction beginning in late 2021 or early 2022, and the opening of the KC Streetcar Main Street Extension system in 2025.