To avoid having to get behind the wheel, Kansas City native Tim Kramps choose to walk to his New Year’s Eve parties.
“Being a pedestrian you don't want to mess with the cars in the area so I was taking a walk on the East side of downtown," said Kramps.
He thought he made the safer choice until he came to the Holmes Street Bridge over I-670.
"You know walking in the street at night on a party night basically it's pretty unsettling," said Kramps.
The city signed a contract with the Downtown Kansas City Community Improvement District to have them clear bridge sidewalks in the Loop and River Market.
After speaking with director of operations, they sent crews out to clean the bridge. Other areas, like on Main and Truman near Power and Light were clean.
Bridges in the crossroads area, like at 20th and Oak and on Main Street outside Union Station, were still iced over.
The city is responsible for this area.
The city's public works director tells 41 Action News they do not see high pedestrian traffic in these areas-so they have not worked to clean them.
The city says it will reassess cleaning procedures if needed.
"The city wants us, they want more people living down here and part of that is we're going to walk either to get to places or to get to busses or the streetcar we need those sidewalks cleared for us because we don't like walking in the street," said Kramps.
For more information on clearing sidewalks—click here.
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Ali Hoxie can be reached at ali.hoxie@kshb.com.
