Intercity Viaduct

The Intercity Viaduct (officially the Lewis and Clark Viaduct; also known as the 6th Street Viaduct and the Woodsweather Bridge) are a pair of nine viaducts that cross the Kansas River in the United States. Designed by Waddell and Hedrick, the first viaduct, a four-lane, deck truss bridge, opened to the public on January 29, 1907, the second bridge, also of the deck truss design, opened to the public on November 12, 1962. It rises above the West Bottoms, and several sets of railroad tracks. The 1907 viaduct is notable for being the first roadway bridge to connect Kansas City, Missouri, with Kansas City, Kansas, non-stop all the way across. It is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and carries Interstate 70/U.S. Route 24/U.S. Route 40/U.S. Route 169 (I-70/US 24/US 40/US 169).

Intercity Viaduct
1907 viaduct on the right, the 1962 Viaduct on the left.
Coordinates	39.1133°N 94.6149°W / 39.1133; -94.6149
Carries	7 lanes of I-70 / US 24 / US 40 / US 169 3 westbound lanes, 4 eastbound lanes) bike/pedestrian path (eastbound)
Crosses	Kansas River
Locale	Kansas City, Kansas–Kansas City, Missouri
Official name	Lewis and Clark Viaduct
Maintained by	KDOT and MoDOT
Characteristics
Design	Deck truss bridge(eastbound mid-section and original westbound mid-section) Girder bridge (current westbound mid-section)
Width	52 ft (15.8 m)
Longest span	3,777 ft (1,151.1 m)
Clearance above	29 ft (8.8 m)
History
Opened	January 29, 1907 (1907-01-29) (now eastbound) November 12, 1962 (1962-11-12) (westbound) Future (I-70 flyovers)
Rebuilt	1962-1963 (1963) (eastbound; land spans and deck) February 4, 2018-January 23, 2021 (2021-01-23) (westbound; Kansas River truss and Missouri land span) Future (eastbound; Kansas River and Missouri land span)
Statistics
Daily traffic	23,500 (2008)
Toll	Historical, abolished in 1918
Location

History

1900s–1960s: opening, de-tolling, second level, and widening

The Intercity Viaduct in 1908, streetcar tracks in view at right

The great flood of 1903 inundated all of the West Bottoms, leaving only one of seventeen bridges in place that spanned the Kansas River extant enough for use. The need for an viaduct high enough above the flood level, that crossed the Kansas River from the Kansas City, Missouri, with bluffs to the high ground on the Wyandotte County side was recognized. Following this, plans were considered for the building of a new Viaduct. Data secured showed there was enough traffic to warrant the building of the viaduct by a private enterprise and capital investment. The bridge design was finalized by the engineering firm Waddell and Hedrick in August 1903. Franchises were secured in September 1904 and successfully financed early on in 1905. Groundbreaking ceremonies for construction of the Kansas River west pier began on August 9, 1905. Less than two years after it began construction, the Interstate viaduct opened to two lanes of tolled wagon traffic and a pair of streetcar tracks on January 29, 1907. It also had a pedestrian walkway. The viaduct was built in 17 months, and traveled from 6th and Bluff streets in Kansas City, Missouri, to 4th and Minnesota Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, a distance of 8,400 feet (2,600 m). Of that, 4,031 feet (1,229 m) were in Missouri and 3,742 feet (1,141 m) in Kansas. When it opened, it was 1+3⁄4 miles (2.8 km) long. It was constructed with v-lacing and has lattice built-up members. In 1908, the bridge survived a flood, showing its design was effective at resisting floods.

Rather than be forced to pay a toll, drivers simply shunpiked the viaduct. Most did this by traveling on the nearby James Street Bridge, which had no tolls, in order to travel through West Bottoms to 6th and Bluff streets. This caused the bond holders to foreclose, and the enterprise went bankrupt; after four years of economic struggle, the viaduct was closed to vehicular traffic in 1911. The bondholders proposed to demolish the bridge and sell its trusses for scrap metal; these plans were ultimately rejected.

In January 1917, roughly 10 ten years after the bridge opened, the Kansas Legislature passed a bill giving the Kansas side authority to contract with Kansas City, Missouri. By this act, Kansas City, Kansas, could issue bonds for the purpose of purchasing the Interstate Viaduct for free traffic, this was also done so street car service could be restored. The purchase cost $1,775,000 (equivalent to $27.8 million in 2023) in bargain money, half of the original cost to construct the viaduct. Of the money, Kansas City, Missouri, paid 56 percent, while Kansas City, Kansas only paid 44 percent. In a short ceremony on October 30, 1918, at the state line on the viaduct, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was led by Mayor Harry Mendenhall of Kansas City, Kansas, and Acting Mayor F.G. Robinson of Kansas City, Missouri, formally opening the viaduct when Greater Kansas City took over the viaduct. At this time the viaduct was officially named the Intercity Viaduct, previously it had been known as the Interstate Viaduct.

US 69 was routed across the bridge in 1926.

Circa 1930, a project which retrofitted a two lane roadway onto the deck truss segments warren truss was completed. This made the viaduct into a partial double-deck design, and expanded the bridge's capacity from two lanes total to four lanes total.

In 1936, when US 24 received its current designation, it was routed over the viaduct.

Throughout the mid-1930s, the upper deck roadway was widened. Other changes adding a speed limit of 30 to 40 miles per hour (48 to 64 km/h), replacing the old lighting with new sodium-vapor illumination casted on cross arms 26 feet (7.9 m) over the vehicle deck, and demolishing the pedestrian walkway and streetcar tracks in order to allow for the roadway upgrade; the latter had already been replaced by a more practical bus system. The bottom deck was converted into a single-lane roadway that let slower traffic (such as trucks) bypass the upper deck. Work was fully completed by November 30, 1936.

The viaduct survived the 1951 Great Kansas City flood; it was also the only bridge on the river to remain open to traffic.

In 1957, with the opening of the Buck O'Neil Bridge, US 169 was routed over the bridge.

1960s–2010s: dulazation and later improvements

In the late 1950s, construction began on I-70, a new Interstate highway meant to allow drivers to cross high stretches of land easily without crossing any at grade intersections. This resulted in the need to build a second bridge, as the first bridge lacked a median barrier and was inadequate to accommodate the increased traffic that it would likely carry on its own. On November 12, 1962, the Lewis and Clark Viaduct was opened, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Mayors Paul F. Mitchum and H. Roe Bartle. It was built to the north of the first viaduct and had multiple differences. It was of taller, had wider lanes, used bolted truss connections, and only contained a single deck. Additionally, it had a small single-lane truss that stuck out from the side near the Broadway Boulevard intersection; this served as an exit ramp onto the Fairfax Trafficway., It only has three lanes, one less than the eastbound structure, though they are wider. The second span had cost $8 million (equivalent to $61.7 million in 2023) to construct.

After westbound traffic began moving over the Lewis and Clark Viaduct, the Intercity viaduct was closed for renovation and a partial demolition. This involved tubbing off all of the its old steel piers and replacing them with modern concrete piers, replacing the the steel deck with concrete coating, completely demolished the part of the land span on the Kansas side order to construct an interchange, and demolishing then reconstructing parts of the viaduct in order to allow for the addition of on-ramps to serve as exits for I-70. Work was completed in late 1963, at which point eastbound I-70 was routed over its upper roadway.

As part of an October 13, 1967, resolution, US 40 was routed onto the viaducts.

In the late 1960s, a pair of flyover ramps to interstate 35 were constructed with eastbound traffic entering and I-35 traffic exiting onto the westbund span.

On January 25, 1969, the Intercity viaduct was officially dedicated as the Lewis and Clark Viaduct; this was the same name the westbound span was given at its official opening ceremony in 1962. Like that span, it was named in honor of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who led the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804..

In 1972, the eastbound viaduct was repaired.

In 1984, the westbound viaduct was extensively renovated.

Both viaducts survived the Great Kansas City flood of 1993.

In 1999, construction work was started on a project to redeck the lower level, which would then be converted for pedestrian use. It was completed in 2000.

In 2002, the westbound bridge was repaired. In 2005, it was repaired again.

On January 29, 2007, the eastbound viaduct celebrated its centennial; several people gathered from West Bottoms on that day, holding lights to honor the bridge.

2010s–present: major reconstruction project

By the late 2000s, both viaducts had deteriorated significantly, while maintenance did not decrease their structural integrity, they required nearly $1,000,000 a year to keep in a state of competence. They were also considered functionally obsolete due to lacking emergency shoulders among many other things, resulting in the snarling of traffic when an accident or other obstruction occurred. On February 4, 2018, phase 1 of the project was started, and the westbound span was closed in order to demolish and rebuild a 0.58-mile (0.93 km) segment of it, from the 3rd Street intersection to the end of crossing the railroad tracks. In addition, modifications were made to the nearby roadway from there to Broadway Boulevard. After already removing the concrete segment, the Kansas River truss was demolished with explosives at around 8:30 on June 2, 2018. Work transitioned from deconstructing to reconstructing in November 2018, it was delayed due to the 2019 Midwestern U.S. floods. The bridge was reopened on January 23, 2021. The project ultimately cost $65,000,000 (equivalent to $72.1 million in 2023), of which $58,400,000 was federally funded and $6,500,000 million was state paid (equivalent to $64.8 million and $7.21 million in 2023, respectively). The reconstruction required approximately 8,800,000 pounds (4,000,000 kg) of structural steel, 5,400 feet (1,600 linealm) of concrete girders, 21,000 cubic yards (16,000 m³) of concrete and 310,000,000 pounds (140,000,000 kg) of reinforcing steel. Lighting was also to the Kansa River segment, and the piers were widened to add an adequate shoulder, additionally, repairs were made to other parts of the viaduct.

Only one week after reopening, one of the westbound spans extant approaches were damaged by a truck that crashed into a guardrail at a sharp angle, along with other cars that fell off.

The eastbound span was closed for emergency deck repairs in October 2021.

Future

Two future construction projects are currently planned for the crossing.

The second phase will rebuild the truss section of the eastbound span. Like the original westbound truss, it is considered functionally obsolete, with structure lacking shoulders, on top of having fairly narrow lanes. This will result in the closure of eastbound traffic in a similar manner to the westbound span when it was rebuilt. It would also build a dedicated span to act as a walkway that will lie underneath the rebuilt bridge's pier.

The third phase will build new flyover ramps, which will allow I-70 traffic to bypass the 3rd Street intersection. It will carry four lanes of I-70 over the Kansas River. After completion, the old left turn ramp and right turn on-ramp located in the area will be demolished, and the viaduct connecting to them would be rebuilt, the already reconstructed section would be as an exit connector to the old intersection, which would generally remain the same. The current left hand ramp is considered dangerous, as a high amount of unfamiliar drivers cause accidents due to its confusing configuration, leftward turn, and lack of shoulders in all areas past the gore. This is not an issue that the eastbound on-ramp has, due to its lower grade, waning beacons, and turning right instead of left, however, it is only one lane wide, meaning it does not meet current Interstate Highway standards. The westbound viaduct bypass was considered during its reconstruction, however, it was not done due to funding constraints.

See also

•  Transport portal
•  Engineering portal
•  Kansas portal
•  Missouri portal