Grandview receives funding for Blue Ridge Boulevard

By Kathy Feist

Grandview will receive $4.6 million in federal funding to expand Blue Ridge Boulevard. from Grandview Road to Prospect, or the city limits. The funding was announced by U.S. House Rep. Emanuel Cleaver during a special August 24 meeting at Grandview’s City Hall. 

The funding will be used to expand Blue Ridge Boulevard from a two-lane to a four lane street, create miles of new sidewalks on both sides, add a wide multi-use path, resurface the street, build ADA-compliant intersections and other safety improvements. 

Federal funding had already been approved as early as 2016 for the eastern half of the project, from I-49 to Grandview Road.

With most funding in place, only a K.C. Southern railroad overpass or trestle stands in the way of the four-lane design. 

“We are working with the railroad to do their part to widen the street under the tracks,” says Grandview Mayor Leonard Jones. He points out that a delay is expected until the sale of KC Southern Railroad to  Canadian Pacific is approved by the Surface Transportation Board. “It’s hard to improve Blue Ridge and not widen the trestle.” 

A new trestle carrying two tracks and allowing for four lanes will need to be reconstructed. A grant from the Federal Railroad Administration will cover half the cost of the project, and the railroad will contribute a fourth of the cost. 

The expansion of Blue Ridge Boulevard will happen, he says. “It’s a matter of how soon.”

In 2020, Grandview voters approved a Transportation Sales Tax Renewal that enabled the city to raise municipal funds for the project.  

“We are striving to make as safe and good a passage through Grandview as possible,” says Jones.  

The Blue Ridge corridor is the main commercial corridor for Grandview and connects two ends of Kansas City.