Intercity Viaduct

The Intercity Viaduct — later officially the Lewis and Clark Viaduct and today the I-70 crossing over the West Bottoms and the Kansas (Kaw) River — was the first continuous roadway bridge between Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. Opened as a private toll structure on January 29, 1907, it carried wagons, early automobiles, streetcars, and pedestrians high above the flood-prone bottoms that the 1903 Kaw flood had shown were unreliable for low-level crossings; free municipal operation began October 30, 1918, a companion westbound span opened November 12, 1962, and both structures were rededicated under the Lewis and Clark name on January 25, 1969.¹²³⁴

Why it was built

The Great Flood of 1903 inundated the entire West Bottoms and left only one of seventeen Kaw River bridges sound enough for use. Boosters and engineers recognized the need for a high viaduct from the Missouri bluffs (near 6th and Bluff) across the bottoms and the Kansas River to high ground at 4th and Minnesota Avenue in KCK — a permanent auto- and streetcar-era counterpart to the rail primacy the Hannibal Bridge had given the city in 1869.²¹

Traffic studies convinced private capital that a toll viaduct would pay. The Kansas City firm Waddell and Hedrick finalized the design in August 1903; franchises came in September 1904, financing in early 1905, and groundbreaking for the west river pier on August 9, 1905. The structure was built in about seventeen months.²¹ HistoricBridges attributes the steel fabrication/erection work to Ritler-Conley Manufacturing Company of Pittsburgh and the engineering design to Waddell and Hedrick of Kansas City.⁵

Opening and early design (1907)

The Intercity (Sixth Street) Viaduct opened to the public on January 29, 1907. Contemporary and local-history accounts place the full run at roughly 8,400 feet (about 1.5–1.75 miles), with roughly 4,031 feet on the Missouri side and 3,742 feet of Kansas approaches; Wikipedia and National Bridge Inventory–derived figures list a longest main-structure length on the order of 3,777 feet for the river/truss complex.²¹⁵

As built it carried:

• a pedestrian walkway (Northeast News: about 8 feet wide; overall deck about 55 feet wide);³
• two lanes for wagons and early motor traffic;⁴¹
• a pair of streetcar tracks.²¹⁴

The main river spans are a rivet-connected double-intersection Warren deck truss — an uncommon subdivided double-Warren configuration — with long approach girder spans over rail yards and the bottoms.⁵ Northeast News, citing period press, puts original construction cost near $3.25 million.³

Toll failure, municipal purchase, free bridge (1911–1918)

Tolling failed commercially. Drivers shunpiked via the free James Street Bridge through the West Bottoms; bondholders foreclosed and the enterprise went bankrupt around 1911, effectively closing the viaduct to vehicles. Scrap-demolition proposals were rejected.²¹

In January 1917 the Kansas Legislature authorized Kansas City, Kansas to contract with Kansas City, Missouri to buy the structure for free traffic and restored streetcar service. Purchase price was about $1,775,000 (roughly half original cost in local accounts) — Missouri paying about 56%, Kansas about 44%. On October 30, 1918, Mayors Harry Mendenhall (KCK) and Acting Mayor F.G. Robinson (KCMO) cut a ribbon at the state line and reopened the viaduct free of tolls.²¹⁴³

Lower deck, four lanes, early auto era (1930–1936)

A lower roadway through the truss opened September 23, 1930 as a truck/slower-traffic deck, allowing higher speeds on the upper roadway.¹²⁵ In 1936 the upper deck was widened to four auto lanes; streetcar tracks and the original pedestrian walkway were removed as buses replaced streetcars. All four lanes were open by November 30, 1936, and the crossing became a key routing for US 40 and US 24 in the early highway era.²¹

Floods — 1908, 1951, 1993

The high deck was designed precisely because low bottoms crossings flooded. Local history records that the truss span survived its first flood a year after opening (1908).² During the Great Flood of 1951 the viaduct is reported as the only bridge on the river remaining open to traffic — a claim carried on Wikipedia from the KDOT Lewis & Clark history summary; if that KDOT page is no longer live, treat the “only open bridge” superlative as **** from a still-online primary or newspaper.¹ Both modern viaducts also survived the 1993 flood per the same secondary chain.¹

Interstate 70 and the Lewis and Clark name (1950s–1969)

As the federal Interstate system took shape, the viaduct was incorporated into I-70. A second, westbound deck-truss viaduct opened November 12, 1962, north of the original, with a ribbon-cutting by Mayors Paul F. Mitchum (KCK) and H. Roe Bartle (KCMO). The original 1907 structure was then renovated and reopened December 11, 1963 for eastbound I-70 only.²¹⁴

On January 25, 1969, Kansas and Missouri legislation rededicated both structures as the Lewis and Clark Viaduct, commemorating the 1804 expedition’s camps near Kaw Point and the return camp near 8th and Jefferson in 1806.²¹ The name coexists in common speech with “Intercity Viaduct” and “I-70 over the bottoms.” Period postcards and photographs in the Kansas City Public Library’s Pendergast-era collections already labeled the span the Intercity / Inter-City Viaduct as the high road from downtown Missouri into downtown Kansas.⁶ Catalog metadata in the Missouri Valley Special Collections likewise records the January 29, 1907 toll opening, the October 30, 1918 free municipal reopening, and a length on the order of 1.52 miles.⁷ The parallel I-670 viaduct to the south (opened 1990) is a complementary bistate freeway link, not a replacement of this crossing.¹

Twenty-first-century reconstruction

By the late 2000s the aging pair required heavy annual maintenance and lacked modern shoulders. KDOT led Phase 1 reconstruction of the westbound structure: closure began February 2018, the old Kansas River truss was explosively demolished June 2, 2018, work was delayed by 2019 Midwestern flooding, and traffic returned January 23, 2021, with a formal ceremony March 15, 2021. Project cost is widely reported near $65 million (Burns & McDonnell design; ~3,000 feet of new bridge, 20 spans).¹⁴ HistoricBridges documented the demolished westbound companion as a bolt-connected Warren deck truss of early-1960s vintage immediately north of the 1907 span.⁸

The eastbound 1907-lineage span remains in service after repeated redeckings and repairs; its lower deck was rebuilt 1999–2000 for pedestrian use (Riverfront Heritage Trail).¹⁵ KDOT closed the eastbound river bridge again in September 2024 for gusset-plate repairs and reopened it in December 2024 (MoDOT relay of KDOT release); weight restrictions and under-deck pedestrian closure were noted at reopening.⁹

Significance

Where the Hannibal Bridge made Kansas City a rail gateway, the Intercity Viaduct made the two Kansas Cities a single road metropolis in the automobile and streetcar age — a high, flood-resistant spine over the industrial West Bottoms that still carries interstate traffic between Missouri and Kansas more than a century later.¹²³

Visiting / orientation

• Routes: I-70 / US 24 / US 40 / US 169 between downtown KCMO and downtown KCK
• Views / trail: Riverfront Heritage Trail under/along portions of the eastbound structure (confirm current access after maintenance closures)
• Neighborhood context: west-bottoms below; kansas-city-kansas west end; Quality Hill / downtown-kc east approaches

Sources

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Lewis and Clark Viaduct” (accessed 2026-08-10) — Confirms: opened Jan 29, 1907 (original, later eastbound) and Nov 12, 1962 (westbound); first continuous roadway bridge KCMO–KCK; crosses Kansas River, West Bottoms, rail; Waddell and Hedrick design; 1903 flood impetus; toll bankruptcy ~1911; municipal purchase and free reopening Oct 30, 1918; lower deck 1930; four lanes by Nov 30, 1936; 1951 flood “only bridge open” claim via KDOT history citation; dual-structure rededication Jan 25, 1969; I-70/US 24/US 40/US 169; westbound demo/rebuild 2018–2021; lower-level trail conversion ~2000; coordinates ~39.1133 N, 94.6149 W. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸

2. The Kansas City, Kansan — “Intercity bridge spans two states” (Margaret Landis “Then and Now” series; March 2, 1986), archived via Kansas City, Kansas Public Library / Internet Archive — Confirms: 1903 flood destroyed all but one of 17 Kaw bridges; Waddell design engagement Aug 1903; groundbreaking Aug 9, 1905; ~8,400 ft / 1¾ mi, 6th & Bluff to 4th & Minnesota; toll failure and 1911 foreclosure; 1917 legislature / $1,775,000 purchase (56% MO / 44% KS); free opening Oct 30, 1918 (Mendenhall / Robinson); lower deck 1930; four-lane reopening Nov 30, 1936; new westbound span Nov 12, 1962 (Mitchum / Bartle); rename Lewis and Clark Viaduct Jan 25, 1969; Lewis & Clark Kaw Point / 8th & Jefferson camp lore. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

3. Northeast News — Michael Bushnell, “Viaduct linked KS-MO over oft flooded West Bottoms” (2023-11-08) — Confirms: private toll for pedestrians, horses, wagons; opened January 1907; ~$3.25M cost; ~55 ft wide with ~8 ft walkway; sold to the two cities Oct 30, 1918 for ~$1.7M; renamed Lewis and Clark Viaduct 1969; standing water under deck common in early postcard views of the bottoms. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Burns & McDonnell — “Gateway at a Crossroads: Reconstructing a Century-Old Thoroughfare” (Lewis & Clark / I-70 westbound replacement case study) — Confirms: series of bridges over West Bottoms and Kansas River linking KCK and KCMO; original Intercity Viaduct 1907 toll, two lanes + streetcar; cities’ purchase after toll failure, free traffic 1918; 1962 companion westbound, original reserved eastbound; ~$65M westbound replacement; ~23.5K daily travelers cited; flood constraints during construction; KDOT owner. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. HistoricBridges.org — “Intercity Viaduct” (I-70 eastbound / Riverfront Heritage Trail; documented inventory) — Confirms: 1907 construction; engineer Waddell and Hedrick (Kansas City); fabricator listed Ritler-Conley Manufacturing (Pittsburgh); double-intersection Warren deck truss; structure length ~3,776 ft; lower deck added ~1930, later trail use; carries eastbound I-70 over Kaw and yards. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. The Pendergast Years (Kansas City Public Library digital history) — “Intercity Viaduct” subject page — Confirms: period photographs and postcards identifying the Intercity / Inter-City Viaduct as the structure between downtown KCMO and downtown KCK, later I-70; aerial context over northern West Bottoms. ↩

7. KC History / Missouri Valley Special Collections (Kansas City Public Library) — catalog entry “Intercity Viaduct” (metadata) — Confirms (catalog abstract): length ~1.523 miles; opening January 29, 1907 (toll); non-toll municipal opening October 30, 1918. ↩

8. HistoricBridges.org — “Lewis and Clark Viaduct” (I-70 westbound companion; demolished June 2018) — Confirms: bolt-connected Warren deck truss companion north of the 1907 span; ~1963 construction date in inventory; demolished June 2018 for replacement. ↩

9. Missouri Department of Transportation (on behalf of KDOT) — “KDOT reopens eastbound I-70 Lewis and Clark Viaduct in Kansas City” (2024-12-20) — Confirms: eastbound I-70 Lewis and Clark Viaduct over the Kansas River closed September 2024 for gusset-plate repairs; reopened December 2024 with posted weight limits; pedestrian underdeck remained closed during painting; KDOT/MoDOT operational coordination. ↩