Various plans are now being reviewed to improve a 16km stretch of US 71 in Kansas City, which dates from the early 1970s. The road has attracted major criticism over the years for having cut off communities on the East Side of Kansas City.
The new parkway design is intended to boost safety and traffic flow, while reducing problems of crashes and congestion and has an expected pricetag of around $400 million. The project will also improve connectivity for the neighbourhoods in East Kansas (in Missouri) previously blighted by the old route. The urban regeneration project is intended to make the city greener and more livable and address the social concerns that made the original road project from the 1970s so divisive and unpopular with the local community.
