Heart of America Bridge Opening

Bridge nearing completion

The Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation is pleased to celebrate the opening of the new bicycle and pedestrian path on the Heart of America Bridge.  After years of hard work by many people, our city finally has a protected crossing of the Missouri River, and now we invite the entire community to share in this historic day.  If you ever signed a petition, wrote a letter, or spoke at a public hearing, now is the time to take a bow.

Get directions to the bridge.

Photos of the bridge before & after.

Opening Day Events on Friday October 1st

7:00-8:00 a.m. Bagels on the Bridge. 
The City's BikeKC program will be giving free bagels to all pedestrian and bicycle commuter crossing the bridge.  Stop at the 3rd Street access point for your bagel.

2:00 p.m. Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
On the north side of the bridge at 10th Ave and Burlington Street in North Kansas City. Join the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Cites of Kansas City and North Kansas City, and local elected officials as they officially open the new path.

2:30 p.m. First trip across the bridge
After the ribbon cutting please join us for the first walk and ride over the bridge. You'll experience some never-before-seen views of the city, the skyline, and the Missouri River.

3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Celebration and Ride From Work event
After crossing the bridge, MoBikeFed and the Car Free Challenge invite you to celebrate with us at The Caddyshack, just a few feet east of the bridge entrance on 3rd Street (map).  We'll have some free food, great food and drink specials, door prizes, and bike parking. 

If you can't make it to the ribbon cutting ceremony be sure to join us at the Celebration--and you can also take the opportunity to ride and walk over the newly opened bridge.

The Celebration is made possible by the support of Kansas City, MO Councilmember Ed Ford and the Departments of Public Works and Parks & Recreation.

Accessing the Bridge

North access is at 10th and Burlington in the City of North Kansas City (Map/directions). Swift Avenue is a good route between the bridge and points north.

South access is at 3rd and Cherry in KCMO (map/directions). Grand Boulevard provides the most direct access to/from 3rd Street and the River Market, City Market, Downtown Loop, Berkley Riverfront Park, Riverfront Heritage Trail, etc. Charlotte Street provides convenient access to the eastern part of downtown and the Charlotte/Holmes route (on the BikeKC plan) to UMKC and the Plaza.

(Charlotte Street has a short one-way section near the south end of the Heart of America Bridge, making access from the bridge to downtown via this route unnecessarily complicated for bicyclists--KCMO is working to turn that segment into a two-way street.)

More photos of the bike/ped path from the grand opening.