KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Southbound U.S. 169 over the Missouri River will be closed for more than 1 1/2 years starting in a couple weeks as part of the Buck O'Neil Bridge project.
The Missouri Department of Transportation announced earlier this month that it would close south U.S. 169 from the Charles Wheeler Downtown Airport north of the river to West Fifth Street south of river in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, beginning Feb. 6.
The total closure will remain in effect until the fall of 2024.
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The more than 600-day closure will allow construction crews working on building a new Buck O’Neil Bridge to connect “ the new southbound bridge into the new flyover ramps to Interstate 35,” MoDOT said in a release about the impending closure.
Southbound U.S. 169, which will remain open south of Missouri 9 only for downtown airport traffic, is expected to be closed by rush hour the morning of Monday, Feb. 6.
Northbound U.S. 169 will remain open with southbound traffic detoured to the Kit Bond Bridge, which spans the Missouri River along I-35/Interstate 29 to the east.
Additionally, MoDOT plans to close the ramps from westbound Interstate 70 and from Fifth Street to southbound I-35 in March. Those closures will remain in place until the end of 2023.
After a joint effort by local, state and federal officials, the project was awarded in February 2021 and broke ground later that year.
It has already created several other closures as construction has proceeded.
Approximately 50,000 vehicles use the Buck O’Neil Bridge, which was originally built in 1956, on a daily basis, providing a critical access corridor between the Northland and downtown.
The new bridge is expected to be completed in December 2024, according to MoDOT.
