KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
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Construction will begin Monday along a stretch of Southwest Boulevard in the Crossroads neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri.
The project will eventually narrow the four-lane road down to two thru-lanes, according to the city.
The extent of the project will run from Broadway Boulevard to Baltimore Avenue and from East 19th Street and Baltimore to East 19th Street and Grand Boulevard.
The project is part of Kansas City's Vision Zero resolution that aims to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2030. The city says the goal of the Southwest Boulevard project is to calm traffic by getting rid of passing lanes.
It is similar to the recent Vision Zero redesign on Broadway Boulevard in Kansas City's Midtown neighborhood.
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“Honestly, this project has been earmarked for a long time by the people who live down here," Nicholas Grunauer said.
Grunauer lives on one side of Southwest Boulevard and owns a restaurant, Grünauer, on the other side. He said he crosses Southwest Boulevard five to six times a day, and he has almost been hit by cars several times.
“It’s dangerous," Grunauer said. "We have the data to support the car accidents that happen, the pedestrian accidents that happen.”
Grunauer is also the president of the Crossroads Community Association. He has been working on bringing this road diet project to life for about five years, he shared.
There were 22 injury accidents between 2020 and 2025 along the stretch of Southwest Boulevard where the redesign will happen, KCPD told KSHB 41 News.
David Lopez is the general manager of Manny's Mexican Restaurant at the corner of Southwest Boulevard and 20th Street.
He said he is 50/50 on the project. Lopez thinks there are other safety issues across the city that need attention before the 2026 FIFA World Cup brings visitors to the metro.
He said he hopes the construction won't impact access to the restaurant's front door or parking.
Dulcinea Herrera, CEO of Café Corazón, is open to the road diet project.
“In the six years that I’ve been here in the Crossroads, we’ve definitely noticed some accidents, even people doing donuts here during First Fridays," Herrera said.
On Wednesday, her café's doors remained open to Southwest Boulevard in the nice weather.
"The World Cup is coming up, so we want people to walk down the streets, feel safe, do their thing," she said.
The city's project will also add a designated two-way mobility lane for bicyclists and others, and its design includes a turn lane in the middle of the boulevard. Street parking will remain along Southwest Boulevard.
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