Re: (rshsdepot) Kansas City, MO

["Paul S. Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

Where is this bridge now? This was unclear to someone not from that rockin'
city...
Paul
- -----Original Message-----
From: Jim Dent <james.dent_@_itochu.com>
To: RSHS List <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
Date: Monday, July 30, 2001 9:06 AM
Subject: (rshsdepot) Kansas City, MO


>From the Kansas City Star via Bernie Wagenblast...
>
>Union Station, Freight House get pedestrian bridge, seek city's aid
>Jim Davis   Staff Writer
>
>Imagine walking across a pedestrian bridge spanning
>the railroad tracks between Union Station and the Freight House District.
>Union Station CEO Turner White hopes to provide that link. He's even found
a
>bridge. It's owned by Kansas City Southern Railway and extends under the
>south end of the Broadway Bridge.
>
>The railroad has agreed to donate the bridge, which hasn't been used for
>about a decade. The Kansas City Terminal Railway Co. will grant air rights
>over its tracks. And the owner of Freight House District property where the
>bridge would land said he wants to make the project work.
>
>"It seems to me it's the city's turn to step up," White said.
>
>Now, White said, he needs money to clean the bridge and install pylons to
>anchor the trestle. He wants the city to pay for a walkway connecting the
>bridge to Wyandotte Street.
>
>No budget has been set. Gary Sage, president of business development at the
>Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City, said he's confident that state
>and
>federal money can be secured.
>
>The Main Street overpass is designed for vehicles. The proposed bridge
would
>increase pedestrian traffic between Union Station and the district's
growing
>collection of restaurants and art galleries, creating a connection that
>doesn't exist now.
>
>White said the bridge also would support a key concept in the Downtown
>Corridor Development Strategy that was prepared by Sasaki Associates of
>Watertown, Mass.
>
>"Never before has there been as much willingness to talk concretely," he
>said. "Never before has there been the willingness to do something."
>
>This timeliness is underscored by a walking tour that Kansas City Mayor Kay
>Barnes led July 20 of the Freight House District and the surrounding area
>extending to the proposed performing arts center south of Bartle Hall.
>Joe Serviss, Barnes' chief of staff, said she wants to promote the kind of
>connection that was provided by the enclosed skywalk between Crown Center
>and
>Union Station that opened in May 2000.
>
>But it's too early to talk about whether the city will provide money for
the
>proposed bridge, Serviss said.
>
>Dan Clothier, whose group owns the parking lot where the bridge would go,
>said he thinks a deal can be struck. Clothier said he would be willing to
>give up a few parking spaces, provided he gets input into the bridge's
>design.
>
>The 16-foot-wide bridge, built in 1892, is 22 feet tall and would rise an
>additional 22 feet above the tracks, offering dramatic views of the rail
>yard.
>
>"It would be a destination in itself," White said.
>
>

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #119
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