KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A major project from the Kansas City Water Department is coming to Main Street and is expected to take two years to complete.
Next month, KC Water will begin replacing and relocating its century-old water and sewer mains along Main Street from Pershing Road down to East 51st Street and Brookside Boulevard.
"With the streetcar, you don’t want to have infrastructure that has to be accessed and disrupt the use of those tracks because you obviously can’t move the streetcar to a different portion of the street," Jeff Martin, chief engineering officer for KC Water, told 41 Action News.
Martin said there will be "multiple crews" working on the project.
"So though they'll progress in multiple occasions at a time, but still keeping one lane of traffic open," Martin said.
Currently, utilities companies are in the process of moving their underground infrastructure to make way for the southern expansion of the Kansas City Streetcar.
"The city is growing, and although sometimes it can be a hassle for some of us, it's a good thing to see," said Kelly AlQammaz, branch manager of the 160 Driving Academy.
Current gas line work hasn't inconvenienced her truck driving school at 34th and Main streets.
"This corridor of Main Street has been very beneficial of helping each other out," AlQammaz said. "All of us are very familiar with each other and do our best to accommodate whenever we can."
But a few doors down Nathan Duckworth, owner of Plush Life Beauty Bar and a barbershop, said foot traffic hasn't been the best.
"It’s slowing business down, and it's also is creating ugly face for our business," Duckworth said.
But Duckworth is hopeful the KC Water project disruptions will be minimal.
"With this process going on, I really do hope they stay within the two years," Duckworth said.
KC Water is hosting three virtual public meetings for the public to learn about the project:
7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 29
4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30
10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 3
Attendees must RSVP to the meetings.
