KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — An overhead gondola would connect the downtowns of Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, under a proposal that a planning official is touting.
A 15-page preliminary study has been completed, although no money has been committed yet.
But Gunnar Hand, the director of planning and urban design at the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, said this is a good time to consider such an ambitious project.
The recent passage of President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill will make new revenue sources available to cities and states across the country.
He envisions a “bluff-to-bluff” crossing that would move people from Case Park in Quality Hill over the Kansas River to St. John’s Park in Strawberry Hill, with a potential stop in the West Bottoms.
Specific costs are unknown, but Hand said a gondola is more affordable at crossing a river than light rail. On average, the gondola would cost $25 million per mile, about half the $50 million per mile it took to build the Kansas City Streetcar’s starter line downtown.