KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers local government on both sides of the state line. Since March, he's been a part of the On Track with KC team dedicated to covering the KC Streetcar. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.
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When the KC Streetcar’s Main Street Extension opens Oct. 24, it will be on time and under budget.
Kansas City’s director of transportation told City Council members last month there is money leftover from the $350 million project to use on enhancements to the extension to improve the user experience.
Money saved from the extension still has to be spent on streetcar-related projects, so the plan is to use about $7 million in unspent money on a long list of concepts.
Priorities include improving sidewalks and crosswalks along the route, adding signage in the streetcar-exclusive lanes, adding medians to Main Street, improving landscaping, upgrading a parking lot near the Plaza, making repairs to the bridge taking Main Street over the train tracks near Union Station, and more.
“It’s really important you holistically look at the entire corridor and not just build rails, but understand how people are going to be getting to the streetcar, where they’re going, and sidewalks are a critical component of that,” said Jason Waldron, the city’s director of transportation.
But the enhancements might be delayed.
On Oct. 2, the City Council tabled an ordinance authorizing the expenditures because of a lawsuit filed against the construction company working on the extension, which would carry out the enhancements, too.
Six employees of KC Streetcar Constructors (a joint venture of Herzog Contracting Corporation and Stacy and Witbeck) filed the civil lawsuit last month.
LINK | Read the lawsuit
They allege the construction company created a hostile work environment with “racially derogatory and offensive language, threatening behavior, physical assault, assault and battery, unwanted sexual touching, and physical segregation.”
The suit said company leaders ignored complaints.
“There’s some serious concern about moving ahead with additional projects given that situation,” said Councilman Eric Bunch. “We don’t ever want to put any person in a position of feeling like they’re being mistreated or even threatened for any reason.”
Bunch said he’s awaiting an analysis from the city’s legal department about how to best move forward.
He added that most of the enhancements planned wouldn’t be complete by Oct. 24, even if the council had approved the ordinance on Oct. 2.
KSHB 41's Charlie Keegan reached out to the construction companies listed in the lawsuit for a comment, but he has not heard back.
The lawsuit will not delay the planned opening of the southern extension on Oct. 24.
A northbound extension from the River Market to Berkley Riverfront Park will open next year. A different construction company is building that route.
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