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USDOT Partners With KCMO To Study Finance For $15B In Infrastructure Projects

The U.S. Department of Transportation partners with Kansas City, Missouri to support more than $15 billion in community and infrastructure projects.

Posted October 26, 2023

The U.S. Department of Transportation has partnered with Kansas City to enhance innovative delivery and finance infrastructure improvements through an agreement that will support billions of dollars.

The Emerging Projects Agreement focuses on Kansas City’s $15 billion network of projects designed to improve mobility, connectivity, safety and equity throughout the region, according to a release from USDOT.

One project, the KC Streetcar extension is one that will connect underserved communities with healthcare and jobs.

“This Department is always ready to partner with cities to help realize their unique visions for safer, cleaner, more modern transportation,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “I’ve had the chance to see firsthand the great strides Kansas City is taking to modernize their infrastructure, and this agreement will help advance that work for years to come.”

However, support funding will be distributed to multiple projects in the city.

Some of the projects that could benefit include:

  • A fixed, 21-mile rail line from downtown Kansas City to the KCI airport—$10.5 billion
  • An east-west streetcar extension—$1.5 billion
  • Reconnecting The Eastside, a study of the Highway 71 corridor to address the scars and displacement this corridor has left on historic Black neighborhoods—$1.6 billion
  • Reconnecting The Westside, a study of the I-35 corridor to address the disruption caused by the viaduct and connect Kansas City’s historic Hispanic communities to the downtown Central Business District—$1.5 billion
  • Construction of the South Loop Park over I-670—$314 million
  • Blue River Watershed safety and connectivity improvements, including economic and workforce development and neighborhood reinvestment programs—$123 million

“I am proud our federal partnerships continue to allow us to make transformational, positive impacts in our community, and I thank the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Build America Bureau for helping us find long-term solutions to ensure Kansas Citians are able to travel to all areas of our community safely, efficiently, and equitably,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said.

View the full USDOT release, here.