Districts Impacted
Construction Updates
Just in time for the extended Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, the Missouri Department of Transportation reopens the Buck O’Neil (Highway 169 over the Missouri River) Bridge after a rehabilitation project. The repair project cost an estimated $7 million and was a cost-sharing agreement with the City of Kansas City, MO. Currently, an environmental study is being conducted on the bridge. The study will be used to help determine the feasibility of a new bridge. Learn more here: /node/6455
MoDOT and the City of Kansas City will host a press conference on upcoming bridge work on May 1 at 3:00 p.m. at the Mid-America Regional Council at 600 Broadway Blvd #200, Kansas City, MO 64105.
Crews will be closing southbound traffic on the Buck O'Neil Bridge at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 19. Southbound traffic will remain closed through December 1.
Crews have extended the work schedule for the Buck O’Neil Bridge rehab project. Crews will close the northbound left lane of the Buck O’Neil Bridge from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. Monday, July 2 and again Thursday through Saturday July, 5-7 for median modification work. Originally, work was scheduled to conclude Friday, June 29.
Crew will close the northbound left lane of the Buck O’Neil Bridge from 5:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. daily beginning Wednesday, July 11 and continuing through Saturday, July 14 for bridge rehab work. Originally, crews were to work from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Also note: Daytime work may continue beyond July 14, but has not been determined yet.
The work in the northbound left lane of the Buck O'Neil Bridge, which will be closed from 5:30 a.m. to 2: 30 p.m. everyday has been extended through Saturday, July 28. However, there's a possibility that the closure will last at least another 2-3 weeks.
Crews will close all northbound lanes of the Buck O'Neil Bridge from 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28 through 6 pm. Sunday, Sept. 30 for median operations. This will be a 24/7 closure. This closure was originally scheduled for Friday, 14 though Sunday, 1016/2018.
What is MoDOT Doing?
Rehabilitation work on the Buck O'Neil Bridge began May 19! The southbound lanes of Route 169 across the Buck O’Neil/Broadway Bridge are CLOSED to all traffic through Dec. 1. Suggested detours include:
- Southbound traffic on Route 169 and I-29 will be directed to Southbound I-35 and across the Christopher S. Bond Bridge.
- Traffic entering onto Southbound Route 169 south of I-29 will be directed to Southbound Route 9 and across The Heart of America Bridge.
- A single lane of Route 169 will remain open south of Route 9 to allow access to the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. All traffic using this lane will be forced off of Southbound Route 169 at the Richards Road exit.
The northbound lanes of Route 169 will remain open across the bridge through the entire length of the project. Click here to sign up for updates on MoDOT projects.
The short-term repair project will include immediate repairs to the expansion joints, cable keep replacements and partial scour remediation. The current estimated cost of repairs is approximately $7 million. The project is a cost-sharing agreement (50:50 split) with the City of Kansas City, MO.An environmental study will also be conducted during this time. The estimated cost of the study is $2 million and will be used to help determine the feasibility of a new bridge in the future.
About the Bridge
The Buck O'Neil Bridge is a triple arch bridge that spans the Missouri River in Downtown Kansas City. It was built in 1956 as the Broadway Bridge. It was built at a cost of $12 million. It was a toll bridge until 1991.
It provides access from downtown Kansas City to the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport and Riverside, Missouri. U.S. Route 169, which the bridge carries across the river, carries more than 40,000 cars a day.
A Buck O'Neil Bridge Environmental Study is currently being conducted in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and is required before major improvements to the crossing can be made. The environmental study will focus on the U.S. 169 corridor from Missouri Route 9 (MO 9) to I-35, identified as a segment of independent utility in the Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) studycompleted in 2018 by the Mid-America Regional Council, Kansas City, Missouri, and MoDOT. The Buck O’Neil Bridge is part of that corridor.
Project Documents
Named for a Kansas City Legend
On June 24, 2016 the bridge was officially renamed from the Broadway Bridge to the Buck O'Neil Bridge named after the Kansas City Monarchs player and manager John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil.
A first baseman and manager with the Kansas City Monarchs, he later became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball. In his later years he helped renew widespread interest in the Negro leagues, and played a major role in establishing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. He was a regular attendee at many a Kansas City Royals games and was much loved by fans throughout the city.