Blue River Road damage receives long awaited report from Corp of Engineers

By Don Bradley

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed its study of Blue River Road, which has been partly closed for years because the surface was giving way and sliding down the bank.

But south Kansas City residents and neighborhood groups who have clamored for the road to be fixed probably shouldn’t get excited because the new report does little to increase the chances of the roadway being reopened any time soon.

In fact, the study determined that the road surface failure was due to ground and rock instability rather than the river itself. The federal government would have more responsibility if the problem had been caused by water erosion.

The corps began its Blue River study in 2016.

“The reason it took so long was trying to determine slope failure cause,” said Jeff Tripe, plan formulation section chief for the Army Corp’s Kansas City section.

“But the cause is not stream related, so it does not fall under the authority.”

The authority reference is to Section 14 of the 1946 Flood Control Act which allows the Corps of Engineers to construct stream bank protection for endangered roadways.

The Corps is finalizing the engineering report and will present it to the city within a few weeks, Tripe said.

Besides being a popular north-south commuter artery between Holmes Road and U.S. 71, Blue River Road has long been a favorite pleasure driving stretch in Kansas City. It winds along the river as trees create a canopy overhead.

The three large community organizations in the area, Center Planning & Development Council, Southern Communities Coalition and the South Kansas City Alliance have all asked for repairs to be made and the road reopened.

But despite those community pleas, city officials have not committed to fixing the roadway.

Sixth District council members Johnathan Duncan and Andrea Bough have earlier indicated the cost may be prohibitive. Both declined comment for this story.

There has been talk of turning the closed road into a nature trail, but that is not what residents want. Blue River Road had long served as a popular access to Bannister Road and U.S. 71 Highway.

Emergency vehicles have also been affected.

And the closed area from Bannister Road on the north to just north of Red Bridge on the south has turned into a popular spot for homeless camps and illegal dumping.

A walk along the stretch last week showed the southbound lane increasingly giving way to the ground beneath it. Brush has encroached over the roadway.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There were plenty of signs of illegal dumping and human gatherings.

“You come up on dumpers they’ll just flip you off,” said Ryan Gritters, president of the Birchwood Hills Homes Association. “There’s not a lot of safety out there; you don’t know who you’re going to run into.”

Birchwood has 318 homes.

“The closing of Blue River directly affects our neighborhood,” Gritters said. “Our people used it for shopping and getting to work.

“And Blue River comes up at every meeting.”

Liz Kelley, who lives in the Terrace Lake neighborhood, takes a nostalgic view of the old road.

When her husband was alive, they would drive Blue River late winter nights while it snowed.

“He would turn the lights off and it was so quiet and we would go slow and listen to the snow. I told him he was crazy, but that is a wonderful, warm, fond memory.”

As for road repairs being too costly, she points out the recent Downtown stadium plan that would have cost the city a lot more.

Kelley also rejects any suggestion that there is little demand among neighbors for reopening Blue River Road.

She said: “I don’t believe that. City Hall just doesn’t get it.”