User:Rrostie/sandbox/Kansas CIty Metropolitan Area

The Kansas City metropolitan area is a 15-county

Geography

Metro Overview

The map's northeast quadrant is locally referred to as "north of the river" or "the Northland". It includes parts of Clay County, Missouri including North Kansas City, Missouri. North Kansas City is bounded by a bend in the Missouri River that defines a border between Wyandotte County, Kansas and Clay County, Missouri running approximately North-South and a border between North Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Missouri running approximately East-West. The river band's sharpest part forms a

The southeast quadrant includes Kansas City, Missouri and surrounding areas in Missouri. It includes the notorious Grandview Triangle.

The southwest quadrant includes all of Johnson County, Kansas, which includes the towns in the area known as Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Interstate 35 runs diagonally through Johnson County, Kansas from the southwest to downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

The northwest quadrant contains Wyandotte County, Kansas and parts of Platte County, Missouri. Wyandotte County, Kansas, sometimes referred to as just Wyandotte, which contains Kansas City, Kansas, Bonner Springs, Kansas and Edwardsville, Kansas is governed by a single unified government. Often the Wyandotte government is referred to simply as "The Unified Government". Another bend in the Missouri River forms the county line between Wyandotte County, Kansas and Platte County, Missouri to the north and northeast.

Divisions

The metro is divided into a number of incorporated cities and geographical areas.

Downtown

Downtown almost always refers to downtown

Notable places in Downtown Kansas City include the

Midtown

Midtown is entirely within Kansas City, Missouri, just south of downtown, and bounded by 31st Street on the north, the state line on the west, West Gregory Boulevard (71st Street) on the south, and Troost Avenue on the east. Midtown is the core of the metropolitan area, as it contains numerous cultural attractions, shopping and entertainment areas, large hospitals, universities, and the metro area's most densely populated neighborhoods.

Midtown consists of numerous distinct and historic neighborhoods such as

South Side of the Metro (or "South KC")

Also known as "South Kansas City", this area consists of the southern half of Kansas City, Missouri, as well as the suburbs of Grandview, Harrisonville, Belton, Loch Lloyd, Peculiar and Raymore.

The Northland

The Northland is the area north of the Missouri River, bordered by the Kansas state line on the west and

Johnson County, Kansas is home to many local suburbs. These suburbs include Overland Park, Olathe, Shawnee, Leawood, Lenexa, Prairie Village, Gardner, Merriam, Mission, Roeland Park, Fairway, Lake Quivira, Mission Hills, Mission Woods, Westwood, and Westwood Hills. Many local area attractions and shopping districts are located in Johnson County, such as Oak Park Mall, Town Center Plaza, and Prairie Fire.

Anchor city

• Kansas City, Missouri – Pop: 475,378 (2015)

Counties

The MSA covers a total area of 7,952 sq mi (20,600 km²) including 97 sq mi (250 km²) of water.

Parks

The metro area has 214 urban parks, much of which designed by George E. Kessler, were constructed from 1893 to 1915.

Swope Park is one of the nation's largest city parks, comprising 1,805 acres (730 ha), more than twice the size of New York City's Central Park.[70] It features a zoo, a woodland nature and wildlife rescue center, 2 golf courses, 2 lakes, an amphitheatre, a day-camp, and numerous picnic grounds. Hodge Park, in the Northland, covers 1,029 acres (416 ha) (1.61 sq. mi.). This park includes the 80-acre (320,000 m2) Shoal Creek Living History Museum, a village of more than 20 historical buildings dating from 1807 to 1885.

Berkely Riverfront Park, 955 acres (3.86 km2) on the banks of the Missouri River on the north edge of downtown, holds annual Independence Day celebrations and other festivals.

Associated areas

Often associated with Kansas City, the cities of

The Kansas City area is a confluence of four major U.S. interstate highways:

• I-29 – North to St. Joseph, Missouri
• I-35 – North to Des Moines, Iowa and south to Wichita, Kansas
• I-49 – South to Joplin
• I-70 – East to St. Louis and west to Topeka, Kansas

Other interstates that cross through the area include:

• I-435 – A bi-state loop through the city's suburbs in Missouri and Kansas. It is the second-longest single-numbered beltway in the U.S., and the fourth-longest in the world.
• I-470 – Connects South Kansas City with Lee's Summit and Independence.
• I-635 – Connects the Kansas suburbs with Kansas City, Kansas, and I-29, I-70, and I-35.
• I-670 – A southern bypass of I-70 and the southern portion of the downtown loop. The roadway is designated on road signs as East I-70, when exiting from I-35 while traveling north.

US Highways

U.S. Highways serving the Kansas City Metro Area include:

• 
  US 24
  – Running from Independence Ave. and Winner Rd., between downtown Kansas City and Independence, Missouri, it serves as a street-level connection to Independence.
• US 40 – U.S. 40 is one of six east-west U.S.-numbered routes that run (or ran) from coast to coast. It serves as a business loop and an alternate route for I-70.
• US 50 – Enters the area in southern Johnson County, follows I-435 from the west to I-470, then splits off of I-470 in Lee's Summit to continue eastward to Jefferson City and St. Louis as a regular highway. Its former route through Raytown and southeast Kansas City was renumbered as Route 350. U.S. 50 is also one of the six east-west highways that run coast-to-coast through the United States.
• 
  US-56
  - Enters the area concurrent with I-35 until the Shawnee Mission Parkway exit. It runs east along the Parkway into the Plaza area of Kansas City before terminating at US-71.
• 
  US 69
  – Connects Excelsior Springs, Missouri, in the north and serves as a freeway in the suburbs of Johnson County.
• US 71 – In the north, concurrent with I-29 to Amazonia, Missouri, and serves as a freeway (Bruce R. Watkins Drive) south from downtown, joining with I-49 at the Grandview Triangle.
• US 169 – Connects Smithville, Missouri, in the north.

Kansas state highways

Kansas highways in the area include:

• 
  GM
  Fairfax plant with I-635. K-5 continues as Leavenworth Road west to I-435 then on to Leavenworth, Kansas.
• K-7 – A freeway linking Leavenworth, Wyandotte and Johnson Counties in Kansas.
• K-10 – A freeway linking I-435 to De Soto, Eudora and Lawrence.
• K-32 – A highway that links Leavenworth and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas.

Missouri state highways

Missouri highways in the area include:

• Route 7 - An important state highway serving the eastern suburbs of the metro. Primarily running north and south through Jackson and Cass Counties. Connecting the following communities: Independence, Blue Springs, Lake Lotawana, Pleasant Hill and Harrisonville. It is the commercial backbone for Blue Springs, Lake Lotawana and Pleasant Hill.
• Route 9 – A minor freeway northwest of North Kansas City, and serves as a commercial backbone to North Kansas City, Riverside, Platte Woods and Parkville.
• Route 45 – Known as Tom Watson Parkway in the Kansas City vicinity until it intersects with I-435, it is a highway that spans 42 miles from I-29/US-71 to US-59/MO-273 in Lewis & Clark Village, Missouri (right east of the larger city of Atchison, Kansas). It is also known as NW 64th Street from NW Klamm Drive to I-29/US-71. The highway runs through the northern part of Parkville, Missouri and across Riss Lake. The National Golf Course is located off of MO-45.
• Route 58 - A state highway serving the southern suburbs of Belton and Raymore.
• Route 150 – A highway linking southern Lee's Summit and Grandview to the Kansas suburbs at State Line Road.
• Route 152 – A freeway contained entirely in Kansas City's Northland, stretching from Liberty in Clay County west until it intersects with I-435 near Parkville, Missouri.
• Route 210 – A minor freeway east of North Kansas City that, as a two-lane road, stretches to Richmond, Missouri.
• Route 291 – Formerly an eastern bypass route of U.S. 71, this minor freeway connects Harrisonville and Lee's Summit to Independence, Sugar Creek, Liberty and Kansas City North. The roadway is designated on road signs alongside I-470 north of Lee's Summit.
• Route 350 – This road crosses through Raytown as Blue Parkway.

Other notable roads

Other notable roads in the area are:

• 18th Street Expressway – a freeway carrying US-69 through central Wyandotte County from I-35 to I-70.
• Ward Parkway – A scenic parkway in Kansas City, Missouri, near the Kansas-Missouri state line, where many large historic mansions and fountains are located.
• Broadway – A street that runs from the west side of downtown Kansas City to Westport. The street has long been an entertainment center, with various bars, live jazz outlets, and restaurants located along it. It also forms the eastern border of Quality Hill, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Kansas City.
• The Paseo – Part of the city's original system of parks and boulevards developed beginning in the late 1880s, it is the longest of the original boulevards, and the only one that runs the entire length of the pre-World War II city boundary, from the Missouri River bluffs in the north to 79th Street on the south.
• Shawnee Mission Parkway – Former alignment of K-10 serving the Johnson County, KS suburbs in the area.
• Troost Avenue – A north-south thoroughfare located 11 blocks east of Main Street, named for an early Kansas City settler and dentist, Benoist Troost. The street roughly divides the city's mostly black neighborhoods to its east from its mostly white ones to its west.
• Swope Parkway – Running on the south side of the Brush Creek valley eastward from The Paseo, then southward from its junction with Benton Boulevard, this street is the main route from the city's midtown to its largest city park, Swope Park.
• North Oak Trafficway – A major road located in the Northland. The roadway is designated as MO-283 from MO-9 to I-29. It is a major commercial road in the Northland and serves as the main street in Gladstone, Missouri.
• Barry Road – Runs along the former route of Military Road, which ran from Liberty to Fort Leavenworth. It is now a major commercial street in the Northland, although it has been paralleled by MO-152 for its entire route and effectively replaced it east of Indiana Avenue.
• 87th Street Parkway – a major parkway that extends from Overland Park to De Soto.

Air

The Kansas City metropolitan area is served by two airports. It is primarily served by

The much smaller

Public transportation in the Kansas City area is only provided by city buses operated by the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA). The Metro Area Express (MAX) went online as Kansas City, Missouri's first bus rapid transit line in July 2005, and operates and is marketed akin to a rail system as opposed to a local bus line; the MAX links the River Market, Downtown, Union Station, Crown Center and the Country Club Plaza.^[3][4] Buses in Johnson County, Kansas, are operated by Johnson County Transit (known as "The JO").

The

See related article: voy:Kansas City (Missouri) at Wikivoyage

Street numbers

The Missouri side of the metropolitan area shares a grid system with Johnson County on the Kansas side. Most east-west streets are numbered and most north-south streets named. Addresses on east-west streets are numbered from Main Street in Kansas City, Missouri, and on north-south streets from St. John Avenue (or the Missouri River, in the River Market area). The direction 'South' in street and address numbers is generally implied if 'North' is not specified, except for numbered 'avenues' in North Kansas City. In the northland, east-west streets use the prefix N.E. or N.W., depending on the side of N. Main on which they lie.

Highways

• Kansas Citians tend to express U.S. and Missouri highway designations with the number before the word "highway," (e.g., 40 highway, 71 highway). This colloquialism tends not to apply to interstates or Kansas route numbers (e.g., "I-70", "K-10").
• 69 Highway, known as "The Overland Parkway", runs southbound on I-35 from Kansas City, Missouri towards Johnson County. There are two exits marked South 69 on the roadway. The first – or northern – exit on Metcalf Ave/
  I-635
  , is a left lane exit and leads to Metcalf, an at-grade trafficway, before turning west along Shawnee Mission Parkway, to rejoin I-35. The southern US-69 exit is a two-lane right lane exit between the 75th and 87th street exits and begins a four-lane highway known as the Overland Parkway.
• U.S. Route 71 in Kansas City, Missouri. The old U.S. 71 ran mostly on Prospect Avenue
  .
• When traveling north on I-35 from Johnson County, the first signs that are designated as I-70 East actually guide drivers through the southern portion of I-670, which takes motorists into the southern part of the Downtown Freeway Loop, and runs underneath the
  Bartle Hall Convention Center
  and some downtown overpasses. This is sometimes referred to as "going under downtown".
• The
  downtown freeway loop is a complex layout of freeways in downtown Kansas City, Missouri involving 23 exits, four Interstate highways, four U.S. highways and numerous city streets. Each exit in the freeway loop is numbered "2" and suffixed with every letter of the alphabet – except I, O and Z (which would resemble 1, 0 and 2 on the exit signs), although some of the exits are currently under construction/renovation and closed to traffic. The entire circumference of the loop is just over 4-mile (6.4 km)^*
  .

• The KCTV-Tower is a 1,042 feet (318 m) pyramid-shaped television and radio tower used primarily by local CBS affiliate KCTV (channel 5). It is located at the corner of 31st and Main Streets, next to the studio facilities of PBS member station KCPT (which formerly housed the original studios of KCTV), and is visible from many parts of the city, especially at night due to the string of lights adorning the tower.
• The twin red-brick towers of the American Century Investments complex are oriented north and south along Main at 45th Street, just north of the Country Club Plaza (the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art is located slightly east, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is located east and slightly south).
• Kansas City Community Christian Church, located at 4601 Main Street, has a group of lights that shoot a beam upwards to the sky at night. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1950s, it is located slightly south of and across the street from the American Century Investment Towers (the Nelson Atkins is located to the east, and the Kemper Museum is to the north and slightly east).
• Bartle Hall
  has a section that somewhat resembles a north-south suspension bridge, crossing over I-670 at the southwest corner of the downtown loop. It has four towers, with metal sculptures on top of each tower.
• The Veterans Affairs Medical Center, located near the intersection of I-70, Linwood Boulevard and Van Brunt Boulevard, has a large "VA" emblem.
• The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 16th Street and Broadway (just south of the downtown loop), with its tiered glass and steel half-domes, has a design reminiscent of the world-famous Sydney Opera House.

Educational institutions

Post-secondary

Libraries

• Johnson County Library
  • Antioch
  • Blue Valley
  • Cedar Roe
  • Central Resource
  • Corinth
  • De Soto
  • Edgerton
  • Gardner
  • Lackman
  • Leawood Pioneer
  • Monticello
  • Oak Park
  • Shawnee Mission
  • Spring Hill
• Kansas City, Kansas Public Library
• Kansas City Public Library (Missouri)
• Linda Hall Library
• Mid-Continent Public Library
• Olathe Public Library

Media

Print media