Twelfth Street Viaduct - Kansas City

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The Twelfth Street Viaduct is a double deck concrete viaduct connecting the West Bottoms area with Quality Hill and Downtown in Kansas City, Missouri. Measuring 2,053 feet in length,¹ the bridge system spans the north side of Kansas City Terminal (KCT) and BNSF Railroad yards. The top level is four lanes and the bottom level is two lanes. W 12th Street connects with the viaduct along S James Street to the Central Avenue Bridge into Kansas City, Kansas.

Opened to traffic on March 18, 1915, the bridge system accommodated vehicles on a 30 foot upper roadway, two sets of tracks for street cars and a five foot wide sidewalk. The lower deck was allocated to commercial trucks.²

Deterioration of the span and relinquishment of the upper roadway by Kansas City Transit to the City of Kansas City resulted in the possibility of closing the bridge system. An engineering study completed in 1964 indicated that portions of the viaduct were at risk of collapse due to the loads carried by vehicles. It recommended expanding the upper deck to four lanes and removing the former streetcar lane. Costs to rehabilitate the viaduct were estimated at $1.8 million.²

Construction starting on March 1, 1965 rebuilt the Twelfth Street Viaduct. The upper level was rebuilt first and opened to traffic by October 1965. Work on the lower level was finished in August 1966.²

Twelfth Street Viaduct - Lower Level

Service roads line both sides of the 12th Street Viaduct east from Liberty Street.
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The entrance for the 12th Street Viaduct lower level is at Hickory Street.
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Twelfth Street Viaduct east of Hickory Street.
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The lower roadway begins east from Hickory Street.
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The two lane lower roadway east connects with Beardsley Road.
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An Interstate 70 trailblazer references the entrance ramps from Beardsley Road north from the Twelfth Street Viaduct lower level.
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The north side of the Twelfth Street Viaduct east from Hickory Street.
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The Twelfth Street Viaduct between Mulberry and Hickory Streets.
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W 12th Street at Hickory Street.
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W 12th Street east ahead of Mulberry Street.
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W 12th Street east at Mulberry Street.
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W 12th Street east ahead of Santa Fe Street.
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The service roads for W 12th Street tie into Santa Fe Street adjacent to the BNSF 19th Street Yard.
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Quality Hill rises east of the BNSF 19th Street Yard and Santa Fe Street.
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12th Street - East

W 12th Street rises onto the Twelfth Street Viaduct eastbound at Liberty Street in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City.
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The Twelfth Street Viaduct ties into Interstate 35 midway between the exchanges with I-670 on the South Loop and I-70/U.S. 24-40-169 on the North Loop.
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Continuing east from Quality Hill into Downtown Kansas City, 12th Street intersects Broadway Boulevard by the Kansas City Convention Center.
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12th Street - West

12th Street west at Washington Street in the Quality Hill neighborhood of Kansas City.
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12th Street west lowers from Washington Street one block to Pennsylvania Avenue.
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12th Street meets Interstate 35 at a diamond interchange with the West Loop.
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I-35 south connects with I-670 east along the South Loop and continues to Westside North and Westside South along the Turkey Creek Expressway.
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There is no access from I-35 south to I-670 west. The Twelfth Street Viaduct begins west from the exchange with I-35 over Beardsley Road.
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The viaduct descends over a Kansas City Terminal (KCT) Railroad line and part of the BNSF 19th Street Yard.
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Spanning the block of Mulberry and Hickory Street in the West Bottoms area.
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W 12th Street lowers to grade level at Liberty Street.
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References:

1. Twelfth Street Viaduct. Bridgehunter.com.
2. 12th Street Trafficway Viaduct, Kansas City, Missouri. Architectural & Historical Research, Kansas City.

Connect with:

Interstate 35

Page Updated Tuesday October 26, 2021.