Interstate Highway thru Crossroads ('80s Plan)

[AlbertHammond]

I have been told many times about an old HNTB plan to add a south loop thru the crossroads. Seems the plan still had traction into the 1990s. Does anyone know the name of the plan or have info on the exact route it was to take? I seem to recall it was to run just behind Union Station, thru the freight house area (Lydias, JackStack BBQ).

[DaveKCMO]

I believe it was called the Crosstown Connector or Crossroads Connector (I-35 to US-71 along 22nd/23rd streets). The watered down version was eventually build as a "stroad" from Grand to 71 and an even MORE watered down version (or watered UP?) is now under construction from 71 to some point east. I believe the last version of the grand plan had a traffic circle plopped right on top of my home.

Granted, most this is secondhand info passed down from neighborhood leaders. I have personally never seen the original plan that would have wiped out the Freighthouse.

[aknowledgeableperson]

I don't think the plan was designed to be a highway as such but as you say "a connector". It died, more or less, due to lack of funding, not sure of any resistance to the plan since there wasn't much in the way as residences to be affected. Saw plans a very long time ago but don't remember the route to I-35 when it got to Union Station. Believe it was to tie into 23rd Street on the west side of I-35.

[brewcrew1000]

So it would have been like another SW traffic way? Boy the city leaders sure did want people to get the hell out of downtown as quickly as possible.

[JBmidtown]

everything about that sounds awful.

[flyingember]

So it would have been like another SW traffic way? Boy the city leaders sure did want people to get the hell out of downtown as quickly as possible.

Small towns like bypasses. (see Lawrence, Warrensburg) I never got that. Do towns want people to not go through their town and spend money in the existing stores?

In the same idea, why would any city want to make it easy to move away? We know that jobs left downtown anyways so it's not like quick and easy access helped there.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Small towns don't like bypasses. At the same time though they do. They may want the business that may stop but not the traffic that just drives though.
Highways are to move traffic. There is a certain tradeoff.

[moderne]

Think the idea was for Crown Center and what was to be the Pershing Square development would have a direct freeway access connection to I-35 and Bruce Watkins. More competitive with freeway-centric developments like Corporate Woods and Junior College Blvd.

[voltopt]

Draw a line west along the north edge of the KCTR tracks, starting at 22nd and Grand and turning to the SW slightly at the freighthouse in the process demolishing the freighhouse) and continue to Cesar Chavez. I believe that was the route, but it may have aligned with West Pennway on the west side. Think of it as a continuation of Cesar Chavez east, which the rest of it basically is beyond Grand.

[voltopt]

In design, it would have been similar to the Broadway flyover that aligns Broadway with West Pennway south of Southwest Boulevard.

[loftguy]

It was the 'Crosstown Connector' and up until the mid-90's there were still some people huffing and puffing to make this artery happen.
The shift from such insular thinking was building early momentum.

BTW, the term 'Crossroads' was a late 90's development. Prior to that it was 'Crosstown' and some other name that eludes me.
As the energy of the area started to build, a moniker was sought, found and stuck in place. Don't know who gets credit for that.

[DaveKCMO]

Don't know who gets credit for that.

internally, we credit the city.

[droopy]

Don't know who gets credit for that.

internally, we credit the city.

I credit Eric Clapton

[earthling]

It was the 'Crosstown Connector' and up until the mid-90's there were still some people huffing and puffing to make this artery happen.
The shift from such insular thinking was building early momentum.

BTW, the term 'Crossroads' was a late 90's development. Prior to that it was 'Crosstown' and some other name that eludes me.
As the energy of the area started to build, a moniker was sought, found and stuck in place. Don't know who gets credit for that.

Am thinking it was Jim Leedy of Leedy-Voulkos Gallery, no?

[shinatoo]

Don't know who gets credit for that.

internally, we credit the city.

I credit Eric Clapton

Clapton would credit Robert Johnson.

[Eon Blue]

Line Creek Loudmouth has a couple posts on this:

http://www.linecreekloudmouth.com/blog/ ... ately.html

Maybe one more I couldn't find.

[chingon]

internally, we credit the city.

I credit Eric Clapton

Clapton would credit Robert Johnson.

Robert Johnson would credit Satan.

[voltopt]

The area between 15th (Truman) and 31st Street was generally referred to as Midtown into the early 1990s, with everything south of 31st falling under 'Westport', although the naming transition began before then. 'Crossroads' is a made up thing that stuck, from the mid-late 90s. The 1977 "Kansas City: A Place In Time" from the Landmarks Commission of Kansas City, Missouri utilized the 'Midtown' definition for this area. I'll hunt for my copy of the book and try to scan that page.

https://www.amazon.com/Kansas-City-Miss ... B000KV744O

[voltopt]

Line Creek Loudmouth has a couple posts on this:

http://www.linecreekloudmouth.com/blog/ ... ately.html

Maybe one more I couldn't find.

This is a separate limited access highway, a little further to the south, although it could be a spiritual predecessor. I think the thing we are talking about is the 22nd/23rd street connector between Cesar Chavez and 22nd and Grand.

[brewcrew1000]

The area between 15th (Truman) and 31st Street was generally referred to as Midtown into the early 1990s, with everything south of 31st falling under 'Westport', although the naming transition began before then. 'Crossroads' is a made up thing that stuck, from the mid-late 90s. The 1977 "Kansas City: A Place In Time" from the Landmarks Commission of Kansas City, Missouri utilized the 'Midtown' definition for this area. I'll hunt for my copy of the book and try to scan that page.

https://www.amazon.com/Kansas-City-Miss ... B000KV744O

Some people still call this area midtown but I hear it a lot more from people who live here but were raised out of state, I think it should be called Midtown, it has similarities to Midtown Atlanta