en.Wedoany.com Reported - After more than a century of weathering, the Rock Island Bridge has been redeveloped and reopened this spring as a multi-use space featuring a restaurant, bar, event hall, and trailhead. This steel truss railroad bridge spans approximately 60 feet above the Kansas River, connecting the West Bottoms neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri, with the Armourdale community in Kansas City, Kansas, with landings in both states. Developer and startup Flying Truss calls it the first entertainment district built on a river bridge. The project has frequently been compared to New York's High Line and joined the High Line's reuse network in 2023.
Built in 1905 by the American Bridge Company using Carnegie steel, the bridge originally served the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, transporting livestock to the West Bottoms stockyards. The entire bridge comprises three truss spans—two original spans and one added in 1921—totaling approximately 700 feet in length. Railroad service ceased in the 1970s, leaving the structure idle for nearly half a century.
Years of disuse helped preserve the bridge. Because it never carried automobile traffic or was salted for snow removal, engineers from Thornton Tomasetti and TranSystems found its steel to be in excellent condition. Architecture firm Multistudio used this as a design starting point, widening the deck with structural steel and enclosing a 35-foot-tall event hall called American Royal Hall, clad in polycarbonate panels that outline the original trusses.
"Walking onto these old bridges is like walking into a Gothic cathedral," said Dennis Strait, principal at Multistudio.
The completed venue spans two levels, totaling approximately 35,000 square feet, with seating for over 300 and a total capacity of 1,500 people. The main deck features River House, a restaurant operated by Chef Bradley Gilmore; a takeout window called Rock Island Eats; and a public walkway. The upper deck houses American Royal Hall and a second bar. To meet modern levee standards, the construction team used the bridge's original 1951 spiral lift gates to raise the entire structure by 4 feet.
The $20 million project received funding from public, private, and philanthropic sources. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County purchased the bridge from Kansas City, Missouri, for $1 in 2022 and leased it long-term to Flying Truss. Former PBS executive Michael Zeller was an early driver of the redevelopment, first leasing the structure in 2018, and expects it to attract 500,000 to 700,000 visitors annually.
The bridge is free and open to the public and has been designated as a trailhead for the planned Greenline KC loop. Its reopening coincides with the World Cup summer, and as Kansas City is one of the host cities, the venue has added ten screens in American Royal Hall for viewing matches. A west entrance connecting to the Kansas Levee Trail is expected to open in late summer, with the entire trail network anticipated to be completed by spring 2027.
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