Kansas City, Mo – Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas today announced the City received a Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to study how to reconnect Kansas City’s Westside communities with community-led solutions.

Kansas City is one of 45 communities across the nation to first secure funding through the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, which is a first-of-its-kind initiative to reconnect communities cut off from opportunity and burdened by past transportation infrastructure decisions.

The funding will help Kansas City study and develop a clear plan to equitably increase mobility and connectivity, while addressing inequities and barriers to opportunity throughout the historically Hispanic Westside neighborhood, which has been home to immigrants from Mexico, Central, and Latin America since the early 1900s.

The construction of I-35 in the late 1960s cut through the heart of the Westside neighborhood, cutting it off from economic opportunities in the Central Business District. Then, I-670 was constructed in 1990, cutting through the northern portion of the Westside. Both projects left the Westside disconnected from opportunities and exacerbated disinvestment.

The Reconnecting the Westside plan will:

• Plan for the future of the aging I-35 viaduct, which has passed its projected life span.

• Design connections between the Westside community and the Central Business District.

• Create design solutions for Beardsley Road to connect the Westside with economic and residential development in the West Bottoms. Currently, Beardsley Road is a dark and hazardous two-lane road.

Ongoing engagement with community organizations including the Mattie Rhodes Center, Hispanic Economic Development Corporation, Sacred Heart Neighborhood Association, and the Westside Neighborhood Association, will be instrumental in every phase of the project.

Last year, Kansas City received a $5 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to plan a project for critical, transformational improvements along U.S. Highway 71, particularly from 85th Street north to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Reconnecting community projects including those for Highway 71 and the Westside neighborhood will address longstanding generational divides and make transformational change for residents, which is all made possible through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

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