OFFICIAL - Buck O'Neil Bridge

[mshilko]

Just saw this article and wanted to share it.

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/07/46 ... te-to.html

[DaveKCMO]

please don't copy/paste entire copyrighted articles. i've shortened your post for you.

[mshilko]

please don't copy/paste entire copyrighted articles. i've shortened your post for you.

Oops, my bad, sorry!

[dnweava]

As someone who drives across the broadway bridge daily, the amount of pediastrian traffic walking down the median is dangerous. I think the Harlem area would be a great area to redevelop into middle class riverfront apartments/condos, you can sell it as family friendly and downtown since it is outside the KCMO school district but you can still be within walking distance to the streetcar/riverfront park/city market/etc if you add a new pedestrian path over the river.

Here is my idea: route the southbound lanes around the airport on the river side and tie into the highways with a new bridge, and replace the current broadway/70 bridge with a traffic circle.

[flyingember]

Not happening. There's not enough space to add 4 lanes around the northwest side of the airport and maintain the existing roads.

Would require moving the river slightly to move the levy over

The angle to miss I-70 also would run into airport flight paths or be a crazy steep bridge.

[dnweava]

Not happening. There's not enough space to add 4 lanes around the northwest side of the airport and maintain the existing roads.

Would require moving the river slightly to move the levy over

The angle to miss I-70 also would run into airport flight paths or be a crazy steep bridge.

you only need 2-3 lanes since you are only routing half of the highway on that side, and you could use the current road(lou holland) path. You can easily close that section of the airport ring road as you can still access the river side hangers from the south.

[flyingember]

Not happening. There's not enough space to add 4 lanes around the northwest side of the airport and maintain the existing roads.

Would require moving the river slightly to move the levy over

The angle to miss I-70 also would run into airport flight paths or be a crazy steep bridge.

you only need 2-3 lanes since you are only routing half of the highway on that side, and you could use the current road(lou holland) path. You can easily close that section of the airport ring road as you can still access the river side hangers from the south.

you need 4 lanes since that's what the road is today.

something tells me basic airport security requirements would negate closing any segment of road around the airport.

[longviewmo]

Not happening. There's not enough space to add 4 lanes around the northwest side of the airport and maintain the existing roads.

Would require moving the river slightly to move the levy over

The angle to miss I-70 also would run into airport flight paths or be a crazy steep bridge.

you only need 2-3 lanes since you are only routing half of the highway on that side, and you could use the current road(lou holland) path. You can easily close that section of the airport ring road as you can still access the river side hangers from the south.

you need 4 lanes since that's what the road is today.

something tells me basic airport security requirements would negate closing any segment of road around the airport.

You don't need four lanes. It's two in each direction now. Anything wider than two lanes would just increase capacity.

[aknowledgeableperson]

It has been many years ago but the road along the river is not technically "public". That roadway is airport property.

[flyingember]

You don't need four lanes. It's two in each direction now. Anything wider than two lanes would just increase capacity.

yes, a four lane road is two lanes in each direction. (adding upwards from a one lane bridge not being wide enough to two cars)
and we will need more capacity. add 100K people just off 169 in the northland over the next 30-40 years and you have to pick a bridge to widen or start getting serious on laying track.

and I really doubt the FAA is going to do anything but veto US 169 and the end of their runway meeting so closely at both ends. there's was a big deal over the Bond Bridge to the point the project website mentioned the FAA ruling, and that one wasn't nearly as close

[DaveKCMO]

jan. 14 discussion at KCDC: http://kansascity.uli.org/event/northlo ... nce-panel/

[JLowe2018]

Anyone go to the discussion last night? I wasn't able to go but really wanted to hear their ideas.

[loftguy]

Anyone go to the discussion last night? I wasn't able to go but really wanted to hear their ideas.

A summary, as I recall:
Abandon north loop I-70 trench - Charlotte to Broadway - Return street grid and infill
2 scenarios proposed - one as a single entity institutional development (Uber campus in Seattle referenced as example) - second scenario of multiple mixed use developments throughout
Either plan to provide 1,400,000 square feet of vertical improvements.....Office, residential, retail...plus public greenspace/plazas
Baseball stadium specifically eliminated as contemporary stadium design would not fit within any of the site boundaries (*could be adjoining though...my notation)
parking to be built under improvements, filling in the trench with 2 to 3 levels of parking to bring up to grade
two story to twelve story construction above grade
Anticipate each block to contain mix of heights, lower on River Market side and taller adjoining CBD
anticipates contribution of land to city of KCMO who originally donated most of the land involved to MODOT
Would be developed using existing incentive statutes

[missingkc]

Nice place for a lake, I think.

[normalthings]

Was any kind of timeline given?

[smh]

Was any kind of timeline given?

They assumed this was 10 years away, from what I recall.

[DaveKCMO]

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/p ... ml?ana=twt

a few tidbits for non-subscribers:

After two days of intensive research last month, ULI Kansas City’s 10-member Northloop Technical Assistance Panel determined that wiping out the freeway between Broadway and Charlotte Street would make a 32-acre strip of prime downtown real estate available for incremental mixed-use development or — and here’s the big bang — to lure a national corporate presence rivaling Amazon’s sprawling headquarters campus near downtown Seattle.

...the ULI panel already has come up with a financing plan for its vision of a 12,750-employee corporate campus that includes 3 million square feet of offices, 1,050 high-end apartments and 100,000 square feet of retail.

The financing plan calls for as much as $264 million of public funding, including $78 million to be derived from sale of the 32 acres. In addition, tax increment financing with a net present value of as much as $186 million could be generated by diverting new tax revenue flowing from the development for as long as 23 years.

The big-bang alternative calls for the city to spend $180 million of the public funding to create 7,200 parking stalls in two- to three-level underground parking garages that would fill the existing freeway trench.

The North Loop plan calls for maintaining east-west access in the area by improving Independence Avenue and Sixth Street after the stretch of I-70/35 is decommissioned. The streets, currently interrupted by gaps within the corridor, would be reconnected, with Sixth Street continuing as Admiral Boulevard to the east. Brain said that improvement and a new, uninterrupted stretch of Independence Avenue would fuel economic growth for Kansas City’s Northeast community.

Ron Achelpohl, director of transportation and environment for the Mid-America Regional Council, said the 58-year-old Broadway Bridge “has outlived its designed life.” Its estimated $142 million replacement tops the state’s prioritized list of highway system improvements in the Kansas City area.

[UrbanKC]

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/p ... ml?ana=twt

a few tidbits for non-subscribers:

After two days of intensive research last month, ULI Kansas City’s 10-member Northloop Technical Assistance Panel determined that wiping out the freeway between Broadway and Charlotte Street would make a 32-acre strip of prime downtown real estate available for incremental mixed-use development or — and here’s the big bang — to lure a national corporate presence rivaling Amazon’s sprawling headquarters campus near downtown Seattle.

...the ULI panel already has come up with a financing plan for its vision of a 12,750-employee corporate campus that includes 3 million square feet of offices, 1,050 high-end apartments and 100,000 square feet of retail.

The financing plan calls for as much as $264 million of public funding, including $78 million to be derived from sale of the 32 acres. In addition, tax increment financing with a net present value of as much as $186 million could be generated by diverting new tax revenue flowing from the development for as long as 23 years.

The big-bang alternative calls for the city to spend $180 million of the public funding to create 7,200 parking stalls in two- to three-level underground parking garages that would fill the existing freeway trench.

The North Loop plan calls for maintaining east-west access in the area by improving Independence Avenue and Sixth Street after the stretch of I-70/35 is decommissioned. The streets, currently interrupted by gaps within the corridor, would be reconnected, with Sixth Street continuing as Admiral Boulevard to the east. Brain said that improvement and a new, uninterrupted stretch of Independence Avenue would fuel economic growth for Kansas City’s Northeast community.

Ron Achelpohl, director of transportation and environment for the Mid-America Regional Council, said the 58-year-old Broadway Bridge “has outlived its designed life.” Its estimated $142 million replacement tops the state’s prioritized list of highway system improvements in the Kansas City area.

Thank you for the summary.

I think most people living Downtown would see the benefit and support it. But the difficulty would be getting the City of Kansas City and MoDOT to cooperate and get it done.

If it ever materializes beyond just research done by the ULI of Kansas City, it'd be a great thing.

With so much money that would have to be invested to get it done, they could also try to get Commerce Bank to cooperate and cash in on their parking lots. It would also be nice to see such a plan take the Main/Delaware route and restore it to the old junction. That would give the Downtown area another unique feature and give the city (or a developer) the opportunity to contract it to a an architect that can create a unique focal point, whether that's a park, square, building, tower or some other monument or feature.

The city is laid out on such a repetitive grid that there are barely any vanishing points when you look down a main thoroughfare. However, people inherently want some point to focus on, whether walking, driving or just sitting around. We don't have anything like mountains to terminate our views, and our streets are so relatively straight that you can look down a street like Main St. and see a long way without anything to terminate your view except the sky. Plus, there are very few outdoor "rooms" around. Places where you can be outdoors, but also feel "safe" and enclosed, as if you were in an urban, outdoor living room. Power & Light is one, but it's covered, and some of our parks are others. It's something we could use more of. It's good to have a balance of both truly open space and "enclosed" open space.

[DaveKCMO]

If it ever materializes beyond just research done by the ULI of Kansas City, it'd be a great thing.

it already has.

the inclusion of the 'broadway bridge' in the statewide transportation ballot initiative triggered the conversation, meaning modot was open to something beyond just replacing the bridge. marc's effort is the result of that.

http://www.marc.org/Transportation/Spec ... y/Overview

[loftguy]

The city of Kansas City has been in the lead on this big idea for a few years now.
The ULI study has provided independent assessment that both quantifies and qualifies the concept.
I don't expect MoDot to be an obstacle, as this plan could significantly simplify their responsibilities.

More exciting than a wagon full of puppies.