
Today MoDOT unveiled the winning team to design and build the Paseo Bridge replacement. The winning design is a single cable-stayed bridge with a diamond-shaped central tower, to be named the Christopher S. Bond Bridge.
Features include…
- Construction begins Spring 2008 and finished Summer 2011
- Existing bridge will stay open during construction
- Six lanes, with room for eight after the Downtown Loop is upgraded
- Room for a bike/ped lane once connectivity to future levee trails is established
- Former Mayor Kay Barnes gets her much-coveted fancy interchange at Front Street.
There is a lot of talk about this being a “signature” or “landmark” bridge that will become an icon for the city. But it looks like a shameless copy of the Cooper River bridge in Charleson, SC.
More info and images are on the project web site at www.kcicon.com.

@BlogKC
It is a cool looking bridge and it has the possibility for a bike lane. It sounds great to me.
Thats awesome. How long will it take for Tony’s Kansas City to call out this bridge design for being “racist?”
Is it me, or does the central tower look more like an arrowhead than a diamond?
oops. He already did. What a DB.
Bridge Design? Looks good.
Naming the bridge after a terrible and corrupt politican? Not so good.
Nice catch on the Cooper River bridge. I’m all for not reinventing the wheel, but this is a little ridiculous.
Maybe S.C. has some extra parts laying around from their construction that we’re going to pick up on the cheap?
ChrisM70 beat me to it. The design looks great. Name? EEeeewwww!
Hopefully people will just keep calling it Paseo Bridge. Even if Bond wasn’t a douchebag, the name is waaaaay too long…
This is also an exact duplicate of a bridge being built in China that was featured in the June or July issue of National Geographic. And I mean EXACT duplicate.
I think they should have selected a different name and design!!!! Its the same as the cooper bridge in south carolina our new bride should be one of a kind and not comparable to others (in a good way)! It will be named the christopher s bond bridge Who is that???? It shouldv’e been named after a person that has given alo to the community like buck o’neal
I think the bridge is awesome, but they need to go ahead and put in bike lanes right away, what a way for support from the “mobile” crowd! Besides, you know how long K.c. takes to do something deemed “in the future” let’s go! Build it.
I’m always skeptical when a big project boasts of a feature that will come later. (“Once we build the Truman Sports complex, we’ll put a roof on it later!”)
I doubt that bridge will ever actually have a Ped/Bike lane unless the citizens demand it from the beginning. This city needs a way to walk over the river in a SAFE manner. It’s absolutely ridiculous that this city has gone so long without it. Every time I see someone walking across the Broadway Bridge I fear for their life!
A project like this new bridge always goes over budget and then they will never add a Ped/Bike lane in because of “financial constraints”.
BTW, maybe they should plan for a light rail/street car lane for this new bridge?
That’s what I say. If the Heart of America bridge can’t handle light rail, then build this one that way.
Bike lanes in the future? We in south K.C. are still waiting for the “airport in the future” that was promised when Richards-Gebaur was shut down.
Let’s call it the Bond-dogle.
While I do like this bridge, it certainly isn’t one of a kind. And the Bike/Ped lane needs to be built from the beginning. Especially since the Berkley Riverfront Park is so close and there really should be a safe way for bicycle or foot traffic to get across the bridge regardless. Who’s idea was it to rename the bridge after “him”, and why? As others have mentioned: that if the bridge is going to be renamed, do it after somebody who actually did something for KC community; but “Kit” -come on, that’s an embarassment!
I think it is a cool bridge.
whoever thought of the name of the bridge should listen to the people of kansas city. i think us kansas city veterans will always call it the pasoe bridge no matter what.