Kansas City's long-discussed plan to cap a stretch of Interstate 670 with a public park cleared its biggest hurdle yet on Thursday, when the City Council voted to approve funding that lets construction begin. The vote authorizes $51.57 million in taxable special obligation bond proceeds to launch Phase One of what's now called Roy Blunt Luminary Park, a project meant to physically reconnect downtown's Central Business District with the Crossroads Arts District.
The council's action came through Ordinance No. 260718. City documents posted by the City of Kansas City lay out exactly what that money buys: three blocks of supporting tunnel infrastructure running from Broadway Boulevard to Baltimore Avenue, completion of the Block One park space near the Convention Center, a central tunnel systems building, and repaving across six blocks of I-670.
The vote came as the city faced a federal deadline. Roy Blunt Luminary Park's own project office notes that $28.6 million in previously allocated federal funds had to be formally obligated by September 30, or the city risked losing it. That clock, laid out on the project's official site at Roy Blunt Luminary Park, put the city under time pressure this week.
A Freeway Trench That Split Downtown
The stretch of highway at the center of the project has divided the city for decades. I-670 runs through downtown Kansas City, with a below-grade freeway trench separating the south side of downtown, according to historical background from Flatland KC. Capping that trench with a deck park has been pitched for years as a way to stitch the two neighborhoods back together.
Construction now comes with its own strict clock. Per the same project documentation, the Missouri Department of Transportation has set a hard limit on how long the south loop of I-670 can stay fully closed for construction — no more than 22 months, meaning the highway has to fully reopen to traffic by August 1, 2028. That timeline gives commuters and downtown businesses a firm target, even as the broader park buildout continues beyond Phase One.
Costs Have Nearly Doubled Since 2022
Costs Have Risen Since 2023 The price tag for the full 5.5-acre deck park has grown substantially since the project was first pitched. An HNTB estimate put the project at $139 million to $175 million in 2017, $217 million in 2023, and a current target budget of $315 million, an increase of approximately 45% from the 2023 estimate, according to the Show-Me Institute. That escalation has fueled scrutiny of how the city plans to pay for the remaining phases.
Much of that scrutiny centers on the city's shift away from competitive federal grants. Kansas City turned to municipal special obligation bonds after missing out on a $25 million federal BUILD grant in August, the Show-Me Institute reports, marking the fourth unsuccessful federal grant application tied to the park since 2022. That string of rejections is part of why this week's bond-backed vote carried so much weight — it represents the city betting on local financing tools rather than waiting on Washington.
State support has also played a role in getting the project this far. The Missouri Department of Economic Development reauthorized $43.6 million in state funding, according to the City of Kansas City.
Naming a Senator, Designing a Park
The project's current name dates back to April 2025, when city and civic leaders officially christened it Roy Blunt Luminary Park to honor the former U.S. senator for his role in securing the initial $28.6 million federal grant that got the project moving, per KCUR.
Design work is being led by OJB Landscape Architecture, working alongside BNIM and HNTB. A joint venture between Clarkson Construction and JE Dunn is managing the construction itself.
With this week's vote, Kansas City has moved the project out of years of planning limbo and into an active build, even as the bigger financial questions around completing all 5.5 acres remain unresolved. Commuters, downtown workers, and Crossroads Arts District businesses will be watching the coming months as tunnel work and repaving begin along the corridor that has kept the two neighborhoods apart since the 1960s.
