KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The opening of the Rock Island Bridge has been pushed back yet again.
While developers were optimistic it would open Sept. 2, that date came and went.
“There have been a variety of factors that have contributed to the delay of the Rock Island Bridge, but a significant delay is attributed to the remobilization of the general contractor (& subcontractors) taking several weeks longer than planned,” said Chelsea Chism, economic development director of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas.
In March, Chism told KSHB 41’s Megan Abundis the project is the “first of its kind in the nation.”
But Michael Zeller, Flying Truss CEO and founding Rock Island Bridge partner, said “going first is never easy.”
“There’s a lot of cooks in this kitchen; there’s the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the city, a private development,” Zeller said in the spring. “And we are dancing around each other, and there’s a lot of complications, but we are just sure it's going to be worth the wait.”
Originally, the bridge was expected to open in the summer of 2023. It was then pushed to March 2024 due to work to raise the bridge.
The opening was later pushed back to June 2024, spring 2025, summer 2025 and fall 2025.
The next step is to finish up work on the east side.
“The bridge will be eligible for an occupancy permit once the staircase and ramp that the UG is building at the east end (Arena side) are finished. We understand this is about a month out,” Zeller told Abundis on Monday.
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Work on the west side will still take several months.
“The UG has been working on finalizing our approach with improvements for the westside access, and we are working with the contractor to begin work on the westside access as soon as possible; Westside access completion is anticipated in mid-2026,” Chism said.
Once completed, the bridge seeks to reconnect Kansas Citians with the area’s once-abandoned waterfront through river activities, eateries and events.
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2022
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