Anything Concrete? We Check In A Year After Our Infrastructure Project

Last spring, we dug into the state of metro roads, highways, sewers and public transportation in a project called Public Works? The Cost of Our Aging Infrastructure.

Now, we’re issuing a report card, of sorts, to see if anything has changed in a year’s time. We track the progress on our weekly public affairs shows, Week in Review and Ruckus.

State of the State

“Quail,” sure. But “roads,” “bridges” and “highways”? Those words appear nowhere in the Kansas — or Missouri — State of the State addresses this year. Nick Haines, Executive Producer for Week in Review, and his reporter roundtable asks the question: Why were there no mentions of the word “infrastructure”?

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Trump’s Infrastructure Plan

In his State of the Union address in January, President Trump urged legislators to craft a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan to create “gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways and waterways.” But will Kansans and Missourians see any of those shiny new projects close to home? Haines’ reporter roundtable discusses how much of this proposed budget, if any, the metro should expect.

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Streetcar Expansion

With the deadline to request a mail-in ballot looming tomorrow, Haines asks his roundtable why this isn’t a city-wide vote, and takes the temperature of how they think the vote will go.

There’s more streetcar on Ruckus, as host Mike Shanin talks to Sherry DeJanes, a local attorney and founder of SMART KC, an organization opposed to streetcar expansion. She reacts to our video piece on the cost of public transit and gives her takes on the most effective regional transit systems.

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Explore the Entire Series

Follow Flatland for more check-ins connecting the policies and politics of today’s infrastructure discussions with how things stood in the metro a year ago. And explore the entire infrastructure project here. Then keep tabs on our follow-up series, Public Works? A Level Foundation, an evolving project on eviction, gentrification and affordable housing in the metro.