KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers neighborhoods in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.
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A Kansas City, Kansas, landmark now stands frozen in time, a stark contrast to its former role in connecting neighborhoods.
Built in 1918, the Central Avenue Bridge has been closed since 2021. Shortly after, in 2022, the Kansas Avenue Bridge, which was built in 1921, closed.
The closures left behind a cry for help from the community and local business owners.
Both bridges have been the topic of an ongoing conversation in Wyandotte County, something residents spoke to KSHB 41 about at our Let’s Talk event.
The century-old bridges have exceeded the typical 50 to 75-year life expectancy for such infrastructure.
Inspectors from third-party organizations recommended the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK consider closing the bridges to avoid potential hazards.
“None of our previous reports had really indicated that these were up for immediate issues,” said Brandon Grover, road and bridges program manager with the UG Public Works Department. “They listed them as poor condition, but nothing indicated they were going to fail.”
The Federal Highway Administration requires these bridges be inspected every year.
Inspectors issued a critical finding report and contacted the UG, saying they felt the bridges needed to be closed.
"There was a lot of talk at one point about, ‘Public Works wanted these closed,'" Grover said. "That’s not the case. Public Works got the data from licensed professional engineers that said these need to be closed, and that’s what we did. It’s not a choice we’re making. The city can decide to overrule us if they want to; these are just what the data tells."
From there, Grover says the UG had two independent firms review the bridges. They came to the same conclusion.
“The things we see on regular inspections are surface cracking or rivets popping, or things like that are easy to see,” Grover said. “What you can’t see is what’s going on inside the steel, and that’s always an unknown; that’s how we got to this point.”
Grover says deferred maintenance over the years hasn’t helped the current state of these bridges.
“It would always be great to do those kind of things," he said. "However, on bridges, especially over river bridges or long-span bridges like this, it is almost cost-prohibitive for most cities to try and do, especially a city like ours that has such funding limitations right now."
From the outside looking in, business owners like Zach Wilson say they can’t help but ask one question.
“Why wasn’t somebody planning to maintain, repair or replace these bridges 15 years ago so that they would be open now?” questioned Zach Wilson, owner of Union Press Screen Printing, which is located along Kansas Avenue.
Grover’s been in his role for the past eight years.
“Trying to speak to what former county engineers and administrations' priorities were would be an injustice to them, so I don’t want to try and do that,” Grover said.
Wilson joins several local business owners frustrated with the impact the bridge closures have had on their livelihoods.
“We’re losing revenue due to these bridges being closed, and we’re losing the sense of community between the two sides of the bridges,” he said.
Wilson's business has been at its current location since 2014.
Prior to that, he was located in Missouri.
“It’s not just about, 'My street’s closed,’ it’s about, 'My neighborhood that I love is cut off from an adjacent neighborhood from an adjacent state,'" Wilson said.
He's gone as far as making bridge shirts, which he says have been extremely popular.
"In multiple ways, we’re over it because the bridge is closed, so let’s all get over it, let’s get the conversation started, and let’s get the bridge fixed so we can all get over the bridge," Wilson said. "The response also makes it completely evident that we’ve got an issue and that it needs to be addressed."
Wilson also says he’s concerned about safety due to the lack of emergency access for those east of the railroad tracks.
“Trains stop on those tracks for hours, and if a train is there, those individuals are cut off from any kind of emergency response,” he said.
Logan Smith, owner of Hillsiders Neighborhood Bar in Strawberry Hill, shared the same sentiment.
“It’s hard enough to get people to come over here without being stiffened by the bridge closures,” Smith said.
He says he’s seen streets blocked off due to closures several times without any prior notice, something not too enticing for his regulars from the West Bottoms, River Market and Crossroads neighborhoods in Missouri.
“It’s my day-to-day guys that keep the lights on that are choosing to go other places,” Smith said.
So what’s taking so long?
Kansas Rep. Pam Curtis says that answer’s simple.
“What’s led to the holdup is money, funding,” Curtis said.
Curtis has been extremely vocal about the need for infrastructure funding to help repair the bridges that fall in her district, House District 32.
Grover says it’ll take between $80 million and $100 million per bridge to make the necessary repairs, which amounts to over $200 million worth of repairs — for now.
With construction costs rising from year to year, those numbers are subject to increase.
Curtis recalls hearing an $80 million number a few years back.
“There was a lot of opportunity when there was a lot of infrastructure money,” Curtis said. “I don’t think, perhaps, we were telling the whole story. I think we were just telling part of the story.”
Grover says the UG applied for federal dollars in the past but was not awarded the money.
"We’ve got to tell the right story, we’ve got to secure the funding, we’ve got to get everybody on the same page, and I think that’s how we get it done," Curtis said. "It’s just taking a lot longer than I thought."
Curtis believes the UG should stress the importance of the bridges — particularly Central Avenue — as an economic artery necessary for the county’s growth.
“I think we’ve missed out on just not providing some good narrative with our grant applications,” Curtis said. “There just is not that amount of money without the federal help, I think, available for us to get it done.”
Grover doesn’t think there are too many options the UG hasn’t considered.
“I don’t want to say missed out,” he said. “We’ve tried as best we can in areas, followed the guidelines as best we can.”
As far as state funding, the legislature voted to put more money in the state’s bridge fund this year.
Curtis says she’s also been approached by the Kansas Department of Transportation in the past about funding for the portion of the Central Avenue Bridge it owns, which is currently under construction.
“We’ve got a couple other bridges that are closed to the public, but they might not be UG related,” Grover said.
KDOT projects involve routes connecting to state or broader highway systems beyond local streets and bridges.
According to a KDOT spokesperson, KDOT offers state funding through various sources for locally owned bridges, including the Kansas Local Bridge Improvement Program.
KDOT requires a local funding match based on county population density. The required local match for KCK bridges through its Local Bridge Improvement Program would be 25%.
There are approximately 230 bridge structures in Wyandotte County that KDOT owns and maintains, which include span bridges and ramp bridges.
Project work is active on the following KDOT bridges in KCK:
K-5 over Union Pacific Railroad, south of Sunshine Road
- Bridge deck replacement; fully closed to traffic
- Start date: May 2025
- Expected completion: December 2025
EB and WB I-670 bridges over the Kansas River and Union Pacific Railroad; Central Avenue bridge over I-70 and Union Pacific Railroad
- Bridge maintenance: girder work, expansion joint replacement and bridge deck patching
- Closures are scheduled when/where specific work activities are occurring
- Start date: April 2025
- Expected completion: September 2025
Multiple NB and SB I-435 bridges, Kansas River to Missouri River
- Bridge patching and overlay; lane and shoulder closures through the work zone
- Project includes phased work on NB I-435 over Connor Creek, SB I-435 over Leavenworth Road, SB I-435 over Georgia Avenue, SB I-435 over Parallel Parkway, SB I-435 over 98th Street, and NB and SB I-435 over Swartz Road
- Start date: March 2025
- Expected completion: May 2026
U.S. 69 (18th Street) bridge over Kansas River
- Bridge replacement; fully closed to traffic
- Project includes improvements to U.S. 69 (18th Street) bridges over Ruby Avenue, Metropolitan Avenue, Osage Avenue and the Kansas City Terminal (KCT)/Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) Railway
- Start date: March 2025
- Expected completion: Fall 2027
K-32/Turner Diagonal Freeway/Kaw Drive
- Bridge replacement; fully closed to traffic
- Start date: October 2022
- Expected completion: Summer 2026
Grover says the Unified Government and Public Works have no control over the completion timeline for KDOT projects.
“The biggest thing I would say to people is that we hear you, we sympathize, we understand the urgency and the frustration you’re feeling,” Grover said.
Grover says the UG wants to hear residents’ thoughts — and already has.
The UG held a public open house in July for residents to share their thoughts about the future of the bridges. Another open house will be held in late September or early October to discuss the findings of the UG’s latest bridge study, Elevating KCK.
The goal of the study is to find the best long-term solution for the bridges through three options: replacement, rehabilitation (repair) or removal.
“If you look at either of these two structures, you see big, wide open, four-lane concrete,” Grover said. “Is that really needed in the future? Could we change the design of it and maybe reduce costs? Include bike lanes, pedestrian sidewalks, viewports over the river, things like that. That’s what study is going to hopefully give us.”
Grover says the hope is to preserve the historical artifacts the Central Avenue Bridge contains, especially as a location where visitors already come and leave artwork.
The current timeline goes until December 2025, when Public Works hopes to have information available to present to the UG’s Board of Commissioners, which ultimately has the final say on taking any action to vote.
“It’s a long process, but all of that has to get approved by them before we can move forward,” Grover said. “Come budget process season, starting in February and March, we can really have some of those bigger conversations about how much money we’re able to take on and when.”
The UG is nearing the finalization of its 2026 budget, which has already been contentious, as residents have pleaded for measures providing any form of property tax relief.
“Ultimately, what it kinda comes down to is the burden that it could potentially put on citizens if we can’t find funding sources to replace these," Grover said. "It’s going to have to fall solely on the taxpayers and the UG citizens, and we want to limit that as much as possible."
With municipal elections in August and November, the makeup of the Board of Commissioners will inevitably change by December.
"I think the consensus will remain that they want to see something open, whether that be one or both," Grover said. "I think everybody would love to be able to open both. It’s whether or not it’s financially possible and fiscally responsible of a city of our size to spend $200-plus million on structures with the limited vehicular traffic that they do see, with also having I-70, 670, James Street, Southwest Boulevard in such close proximity for detours if those bridges were to go away."
Time is of the essence for business owners, who already see it dwindling.
“The margins for these small businesses are so tight that we don’t have a lot of time,” Smith said. “We don’t have an infinite amount of resources and other revenue streams outside of what we’re doing.”
Smith and Wilson say they’ve attended community meetings with UG representatives before, and they are open to attending more in the future.
“It’s a lot of circling,” Wilson said. “A lot of circling questions. It’s a plan for a plan of a plan that we’re going to plan for, which is not an answer.”
The UG is encouraging residents with any input on how they want the bridges to look to take the Elevating KCK survey, which is open until Friday, Aug. 8.
You can access it here.
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