The Bi-State Sustainable Reinvestment Corridor is a transformative effort to establish a 24-mile east-west transit and development corridor spanning four cities across the Kansas City region. Home to 14% of the metro area’s jobs, the corridor currently faces disinvestment, aging infrastructure, severe traffic safety risks (evidenced by 116 traffic deaths over five years), and an untenable 2.5-hour transit commute.  To address these issues, the plan outlines strategies to deliver high-frequency public transit, emissions reductions, improve multimodal safety, support affordable housing development, and stimulate context-sensitive economic growth.

 

Hoxie Collective guided a community-centered engagement process to ensure neighborhood priorities directly shaped the project vision. Across two core phases (2024–2026), the team analyzed potential route alignments, selected transit modes, and detailed implementation strategies. Through more than 50 engagement touchpoints, including "Walk and Roll" audits, neighborhood association workshops, public open houses, advisory committee sessions, and online interactive mapping, community members identified pedestrian safety and traffic calming as top priorities. Stakeholders expressed enthusiasm for a unified transit line while emphasizing anti-displacement protections, traffic lane studies, and essential station amenities like lighting, shelters, and real-time arrival signs.

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The resulting plan recommends a hybrid transit service: full Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) with dedicated lanes through high-density urban segments, paired with "BRT-Lite" along outer suburban stretches. Supported by 10-minute service frequency and traffic signal priority, the system will cut end-to-end travel times by up to 27%. Beyond mobility, the plan pairs transit upgrades with enhanced pedestrian infrastructure, transit-supportive zoning, anti-displacement measures, climate resiliency strategies, and a unique brand identity rooted in a community-defined "DNA of Place." Together, this project provides a path to revitalization of dozens of neighborhoods and centers of activity along the corridor.

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Implementation kicks off with a major early win: construction of the corridor's first upgraded station area at Chestnut and Independence Avenues, backed by a $25 million Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) capital grant. Next steps include detailed environmental and engineering analyses, along with evaluating long-term operational funding mechanisms, including a potential dedicated regional transit tax.