KANSAS CITY, Mo. — High-capacity public transit could be coming to the stadiums in Kansas City’s Truman Sports Complex.
Tuesday evening was the public’s first chance to weigh in on whether they’d like to see the streetcar go east- west through Kansas City.
If you are heading north-south through Kansas City you can take MAX buses down Troost Avenue and Prospect or the streetcar down Main. But public transit riders don’t have the same higher capacity options with frequent pick ups going east-west.
“What we do need to do is connect our regional transit system better and make better connections east and west and what makes the most sense for the community,” Kansas City Streetcar Authority Communications Director Donna Mandelbaum said.
So RideKC and the Kansas City Streetcar Authority are studying connecting the University of Kansas Health System with Truman Sports Complex.
Though the idea of taking a streetcar to Arrowhead may be appealing to some, at the first public meeting on the proposal there were questions.
“The current streetcar we do have is limited capacity as many people as do go to the games I don’t know if everybody is going to fit in one streetcar? But I wonder how often its going to run and if it does go the stadiums are we going to see a lot of usage?” Tanner Gatlin asked.
The plan is still being developed. It could be a mix between MAX busses and the streetcar. Phase 1 is figuring out which path to take.
“If you are in the west side of KC and you want to connect to Midtown and east side which routes would you use? Would you use 39th and then connect to Linwood through Main? How would you use it to get to things you need to get to,” Mandelbaum listed of questions still on the table.
People got a chance to place stickers on their favorite of the four potential routes between 31st and 39th Street (Linwood and 35th St. included) and on what factors of a new east-west connector are important to them.
“We should be moving people not cars that’s the idea,” Wayne Copple said.
There’s no estimate on what the project will cost, federal funding could be available. And if you are hoping to save on parking at the stadium, it may still cost you.
“It’s too early to tell whether an East West connection would be free to ride. It all depends on how the budget works out,” Mandelbaum said.
There will be another meeting Wednesday from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Linwood YMCA/James B. Nutter Center at 3800 Linwood Avenue.
Then Thursday from noon until 1 p.m. you can also log on to a virtual meeting at eastwesttransit.org.
They hope to have results from the study by next spring.
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