Port KC receives $37M for Missouri River port projects
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Port Authority of Kansas City has received millions from the state for the development of not one but two Missouri River ports.
As part of Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s approval of a $51.8 billion budget for the state’s 2024 fiscal year, Port KC has received $37 million from the state.
Port KC will use $7 million of that funding to build a new dock at its Terminal Woodswether port in the West Bottoms.
The agency freight is expected to double in the United States by 2040, and Kansas City is one of the fastest-growing industrial distribution and logistical hubs in the country.
This new dock will allow Port KC double the volume of barge traffic at Terminal Woodswether, which connects to railroads and has access to local interstates.
Port KC said the remaining $30 million in funds will support the development of a second Kansas City port, which the agency is calling the Missouri River Terminal, or MRT.
The MRT is located at the site of the old AK Steel mill plant near Interstate 435, where the Blue River joins into the Missouri River in Kansas City.
Port KC said it acquired 415 acres and started early work on the property in 2018. The new site has access to major railroads and the Missouri River but needed better road access.
The $30 million in state funding will allow Port KC to continue developing the MRT, which the agency hopes will “expand Kansas City’s footprint as a global logistics center and attract needed new jobs and opportunity to the eastside neighborhoods of Kansas City.”
In addition to its port operations, Port KC has also helped develop several projects throughout the city, including the Berkley Riverfront, the Three Trails Industrial Park, and the South Loop Link.