The KC Streetcar South Extension project will soon be under construction, will cover more than 30 city blocks, and will extend the existing 2.2-mile ‘Starter Line’ to the UMKC Volker Campus. The UMKC Streetcar stop will be at 51st Street and Brookside Boulevard, near the former location of the Oak Place Apartments.
An adjunct instructor for the School of Computing and Engineer, Bill Yord, also serves as Senior Project Manager with the Kansas City Area Transport Authority (KCATA) and utility manager with the KC Streetcar South Extension. He reached out to Streetcar stakeholders about UMKC senior students assisting with designs for the Streetcar’s south terminus at UMKC. The extension project, and the opening of the new UMKC Streetcar stop, is projected to be completed sometime in 2025.
“I was looking at the Streetcar construction and thinking, ‘We have to bring the students in on this and I called the KCATA and asked, ‘Would you all be interested in involving a UMKC senior design project for the Streetcar?'” Yord said. “I got a call back in about five minutes and the answer was an overwhelming yes.”
Students were asked to study pre-existing blueprints of the UMKC Streetcar stop and come up with design concepts for the project. At the end of the semester, the students presented their preliminary design plans to a large group of stakeholders.
Those interested in hearing more about the extension can attend the Kansas City Streetcar extension webinar from 8:30 to 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 22. The event is being hosted by the SCE Alumni Association and the SCE Alumni Relations Office.
The webinar will feature a moderated panel of professionals working on the streetcar extension, including Yord. Other panelists include Tom Gerend, Executive Director of the Kansas City Streetcar Authority; Cindy Moses, Regional Engineer for the Federal Transit Administration; Jason Waldron, Transportation Director for the Public Works Department for the City of Kansas City; and Nick Stadem, Project Manager with HDR, a design and construction company.
To read the full article form UMKC Alumni Association and a link to register for the upcoming webinar, click here.