Kansas City’s Rock Island Bridge redevelopment is finally opening over the Kansas River

Photo: Downtown Kansas City, Missouri; Kemper Arena (now known as Hy-Vee Arena); and Rock Island Bridge (before redevelopment) – June 10, 2021. Photo credit: Smuckola via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0 (no modifications). Article by Steve Kraske and Ellen Beshuk. KCUR – March 11, 2026.

The highly anticipated Rock Island Bridge project, located in the West Bottoms near the Hy-Vee Arena, is set to open the first weekend of April after years of delays. Originally built in 1905, the bridge once served as a railroad and cattle crossing but went out of service in the 1970s. Despite its age and many years sitting unused, the structure was designed to last and is capable of carrying up to 3 million pounds of live animals at one time, according to Mike Zeller, CEO of development company Flying Truss. […]

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