KSHB 41 reporter Grant Stephens covers downtown Kansas City, Missouri. He also focuses on stories of consumer interest. Share your story idea with Grant.
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Land under the Town of Kansas Bridge that was buried under years of overgrowth is opening back up to the public.
I cover Kansas City, and visit the pedestrian bridge regularly. Over the last few months, my fellow walkers and I have noticed a big brush removal project, and what it's uncovered.
I found out the work space beneath the bridge is part of a $150,000 brush clearing and ecology restoration project by Port KC.
For years, this area was overgrown and littered with trash.
"The original home of Kansas City, and it was completely covered with invasive honeysuckle," Matt Staub said. “There was a plan right before I moved here to really recapture this old town site, this historic start of the Town of Kansas. But they basically threw a fence around it and left it to be overgrown with invasive species and trash, and so this is the first effort to try to recover that and actually take it into the future to be a place where we can enjoy it.”
Looking at the area now, covered in a mix of trimmings and trash, it doesn't look great unless you know what you are looking for.
Staub knows - he's been tracking this project for years. I actually met him walking along the trail while I was out shooting footage for this story.
"I think I mostly see potential, or I see a contrast in what was here before," Staub said.
"Yeah, I think that it's a start," Kelli Proffitt said as I asked her about the project as she walked.
“I think it's a great idea. Anything that can brighten up Kansas City and make our city look great. I'm 100% for it.”
The brush clearing is step one. Port KC says what's coming next is continued restoration and reseeding.
"That should have been a long, long time coming too," Mark Proet, a river market neighbor said.
Now that the brush has been cleared, some of Kansas City's original foundations have been uncovered. If you look down as you walk across the bridge - right toward the end - you can see them.
Kansas City first formed along the riverfront, and in the areas where brush has been cleared, you might catch a glimpse of what look like limestone foundations.
When I go out to cover stories along the river, I hear all the time about how people in the River Market and riverfront lament the loss of green space to new development, but this could eventually become that new green space they've been longing for.
"I feel like people are kind of coming together and interacting more as the space is more beautified," Proffitt said.
"This is the first effort to try to recover that and actually take it into the future to be a place where we can enjoy it," Staub said.
"It feels really different because, you know, we talk about things in the abstract, in the city and all these plans and projects we're going to have, and when things actually happen, you know ... actually seeing the progress and being able to imagine so much more easily now what could be in the space, that's really cool," Staub said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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