Time is up for the Buck O’Neil (Broadway) Bridge connecting downtown Kansas City to the Northland.
Over the weekend, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) announced crews with the Buck O’Neil Bridge project would shift northbound Highway 169 traffic from the existing Buck O’Neil Bridge to one of the newly constructed river bridges. This traffic shift was scheduled to take place Monday, Jan. 29.
This traffic shift will allow for crews to begin work on demolishing the existing bridge and finish work on the second river bridge structure.
The existing Buck O’Neil bridge carried both northbound and southbound traffic. Right now, only northbound traffic is using the existing bridge. Southbound Hwy. 169 traffic will remain detoured to I-29/I-35 (Christopher Bond Bridge) through fall 2024.
With this traffic shift, motorists will no longer travel across the existing Buck O’Neil Bridge structure. The Buck O’Neil Memorial Bridge was built in 1956 and is a triple arch bridge carrying Hwy. 169 over the Missouri River.
Construction began in 2021 and anticipated completion is December 2024.