Ceremony Kicks off Removal of Kenneth Rd Bridge

The old temporary bridge built on Kenneth Rd will finally be removed and reused elsewhere.

The dilapidated Kenneth Rd Bridge will be removed and reused as a pedestrian bridge in Grandview. Photo by Adam Vescovi

New Kenneth Road Bridge

By John Sharp

The kick-off to replace the long closed Kenneth Road bridge over the Blue River that links Missouri and Kansas was scheduled to be celebrated October 4 with a ceremony on the Missouri side of the bridge.

The first phase of this project is the removal of the one-lane prefabricated bridge (called a Bailey bridge) that was installed as what was supposed to be just a temporary replacement for the previous bridge that was damaged beyond repair when hit by a truck in 1996. However, the Kenneth Rd. bridge was hit by another truck several years ago and has been closed ever since.

A joint project of Jackson County, Kansas City, Grandview, Overland Park and the Loch Lloyd neighborhood, the new two-lane bridge will be about 365 feet long and include a sidewalk.

Grandview intends to reuse the Bailey bridge, on the pedestrian Presidential Trail that is planned to connect the Longview Trail to the historic Truman farm home in that city near Truman’s Marketplace