1900s–1960s

The great flood of 1903 inundated all of the West Bottoms, leaving only one of seventeen bridges in place that spanned the Kansas River sound enough for use. The need for an viaduct high enough above the flood level, that crossed the Kansas River from the Kansas City, Missouri, with bluffs to the high ground on the Wyandotte County side was recognized. Following this, plans were considered for the building of a new Viaduct. Data secured showed there was enough traffic to warrant the building of the viaduct by a private enterprise and capital investment.

The bridge design was finalized by the engineering firm Waddell and Hedrick in August 1903. Franchises were secured in September 1904 and successfully financed early on in 1905. Groundbreaking ceremonies for construction of the Kansas River west pier began on August 9, 1905. Less than two years after it began construction, the Interstate viaduct was opened on January 29, 1907. It had a pedestrian walkway, two for wagon traffic, and a pair of streetcar tracks. The viaduct was built in 17 months, and traveled from 6th and Bluff streets in Kansas City, Missouri, to 4th and Minnesota Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, a distance of 8,400 feet (2,600 m). Of that, 4,031 feet (1,229 m) were in Missouri and 3,742 feet (1,141 m) in Kansas. When it opened, it was 1+3⁄4 miles (2.8 km) long. It was constructed with v-lacing and has lattice built-up members.^[2]

In 1908, the bridge survived its first flood.^[2]

Rather than be forced to pay a toll, drivers simply shunpiked the viaduct. Most did this by traveling on the nearby James Street Bridge, which had no tolls, in order to travel through West Bottoms to 6th and Bluff streets. This caused the bond holders to foreclose, and the enterprise went bankrupt in 1911, effectively closing it to vehicular traffic . The bondholders proposed to demolish the bridge and sell its trusses for scrap metal; these plans were ultimately rejected.^[3]

In 1916, the streetcar tracks were upgraded.^[4]

In January 1917, roughly 10 ten years after the bridge opened, the Kansas Legislature passed a bill giving the Kansas side authority to contract with Kansas City, Missouri. With this act, Kansas City, Kansas, could issue bonds for the purpose of purchasing the Interstate Viaduct for free traffic, this was also done so street car service could be restored. The purchase cost $1,775,000 (equivalent to $27.8 million in 2023^[5]) in bargain money, half of the original cost to construct the viaduct. Of the money, Kansas City, Missouri, paid 56 percent, while Kansas City, Kansas paid only 44 percent. The toll booths were deomlished. In a short ceremony on October 30, 1918, a ribbon-cutting ceremony has held at the state line was led by Mayor Harry Mendenhall of Kansas City, Kansas, and Acting Mayor F.G. Robinson of Kansas City, Missouri, formally reopening the viaduct to free traffic. At this time the viaduct was officially named the Intercity Viaduct, previously it had been known as the Interstate Viaduct.^[6]

In 1919, an intersection junctioning on the viaduct was permanently closed to increase safety.^[7]

In 1922, more intersections were closed to increase safety.^[8]

In 1929, the bridge's deck was replaced by concrete.^[9]

In spring of 1930, construction on a lower level attached to the warren truss span began.^[10] This new roadway opened on September 23, 1930.^[11] Also as part of this project, a new roadway was constructed all the way to East Ohio Avenue.^[12]

In late 1931 a requirement to adjust the speed limit between 30 to 40 miles per hour (48 to 64 km/h) was enacted.^[13] This went into effect by 1932.^{[citation needed]}

Throughout the mid-1930s, the upper deck's roadway was widened. The pedestrian walkway and streetcar tracks were also demolished in order to allow for the roadway upgrade; the latter had already been replaced by a more practical bus system anyways.^[3] Work was fully completed by November 30, 1936.^[2] At this point the lower deck was closed for minor renovations and restriping into a single-lane roadway that let slower traffic (such as trucks) bypass the upper deck, it later reopened.^[14]

In 1937, the city replaced the old lighting with new sodium-vapor illumination cast on cross arms 26 feet (7.9 m) over the vehicle deck.^[15]

In 1939, part of the viaduct was modernized.^[16]

In 1942, the land adjacent to the viaduct was relandscaped as part of a beautification project.^[17]

In 1950, the bridge approaches were modified, in addition, four emergency telephones were placed onto it.^[18]

The viaduct survived the 1951 Great Kansas City flood; it was also the only bridge on the river to remain open to traffic during it.^[3]

In 1956, with the opening of the Buck O'Neil Bridge, US 169 was routed over the viaduct.^{[citation needed]}

In 1959, the viaduct was improved to increase traffic flow while its twin was under construction.^[12]

1960s–2010s

In the late 1950s, construction began on I-70, a new Interstate highway meant to allow drivers to cross high stretches of land easily without crossing any at grade intersections.^[19] This resulted in the need to build a second bridge, as the first bridge lacked a median barrier and was inadequate to accommodate the increased traffic that it would likely carry on its own. On November 12, 1962,^[2] the Lewis and Clark Viaduct was opened, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Mayors Paul F. Mitchum and H. Roe Bartle. It was built to the north of the first viaduct and had multiple differences. It was of taller, had wider lanes, used bolted truss connections,^[20] and only contained a single deck. Additionally, it had a small single-lane truss that stuck out from the side near the Broadway Boulevard intersection; this served as an exit ramp onto the Fairfax Trafficway.,^[20] It only has three lanes, one less than the eastbound structure, though they are wider.^[3] The second span had cost $8 million (equivalent to $61.7 million in 2023^[5]) to construct.^{[citation needed]} After westbound traffic began moving over the Lewis and Clark Viaduct, the Intercity viaduct was closed for a significant renovation. This involved tubbing off all of the its old steel piers and replacing them with modern concrete piers, replacing the steel deck with concrete coating, completely demolishing part of the land span on the Kansas side order to construct an interchange, and demolishing then reconstructing parts of the viaduct in order to allow for the addition of on-ramps to serve as exits for I-70.^[2] Work was completed in late 1963, at which point four lanes of eastbound I-70 were routed over its upper roadway.^[3]

As part of an October 13, 1967, resolution, US 40 was routed onto the viaducts.^[21]

In late 1967, a pair of flyover ramps to Interstate 35 were constructed with traffic exiting from the eastbound and traffic entering onto the westbound span.^[22]

On January 25, 1969, the Intercity Viaduct was officially dedicated as the Lewis and Clark Viaduct; this made it consistent with the westbound span.^[3] Like that span, it was named in honor of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who led the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804.^[2][3]

In 1972, the eastbound viaduct was repaired,^[23] modifications were also made to prevent traffic from entering from the eastbound viaduct onto the westbound one.^[24]

In 1978, the eastbound viaduct's lower level was converted to use for pedestrians, with it, minor repairs and resurfacing to the deck also occurred.^[25]

In 1979 work to repair prt of the eastbound viaduct began.^[26]Two lanes were reopened in 1981, generally it's part of the project.^[27]At this point, the westbound viaduct was closed so part of it was reconstructed. By 1982, the westbound I-70 ramp was reconstructed with a third beam, making it a redundant structure. Additionally, the westbound ramps onto the Fairfax Trafficway, Washington Boulevard, and Minnesota Aven, and the eastbound ramp onto the Fairfax trafficway were given major repairs.^[28] Work on this project was completed in 1984 ^[20][28]

In 1986, the eastbound I-70 ramp was reconstructed with a third beam, like its westbound equivalent two years earlier; this made it redundant structure. In addition, the westbound ramp onto Washington Avenue was repaired again, in addition to the its eastbound equivalent.^[28]

In 1987, the eastbound span was rehabilitated, also as part of this, the eastbound ramp onto the Fairfax trafficway and westbound ramp onto Minnesota avenue were repaired.^[28]

In 1988, after one of its supports was damaged by arson, the eastbound viaduct was closed for emergency repairs.^[29]

In 1989, the eastbound ramp, onto the Fairfax trafficway and westbound ramp onto Washington Boulevard were reconfigured.^[28]

In 1990, the eastbound bridge's deck was repaired.^[30]

Both viaducts survived the Great Kansas City flood of 1993.^[3]

In 1992, a project began to reconstruct the viaducts near the Buck O' neil bridge. It involved narrowing the roadway near the I-35 overpass to two lanes westbound and three lanes eastbound, though with new shoulders added.^[30] Work was completed in 1994.^[28]

In 1999, construction work was started on a project to redeck the lower level of the eastbound viaduct. It was completed in 2000.^[3]

In 2002, the earthbound viaduct was repaired. Also as part of this project, the eastbound and westbound ramps onto Washington Boulevard, Fairfax Trafficway and I-70, in addition the westbound ramp on Minnesota Avenue were also repaired.^[28]

In 2003, the both viaducts' deck drainage were extended to the lower chord in certain areas to reduce damage.^[28]

In 2004, the westbund viaduct had numerous cracks repaired, and many of the eastbound viaducts piers were coated in concrete to reduce deterioration.^[28]

In 2005, the eastbound I-70 ramp was repaired.^[28]

In 2006, repairs were made to the expansion joint of both bridges.<ref"Highway and Bridge Construction Schedule: RSMo 21.795.3(3)" (PDF). Missouri Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 12, 2024.^{[page needed]}</ref>

On January 29, 2007, the eastbound viaduct celebrated its centennial; several people gathered from West Bottoms on that day, holding lights to honor the bridge.^{[citation needed]}

In 2012, a deck patching and overlay project was started on the eastbound span. It was competed in fall 2012.^[28]

In April 2015, the overpass carrying traffic onto the westbound span was repaired.^[22]

late 2010s–present

By the late 2000s, both viaducts had deteriorated significantly, while maintenance did not decrease their structural integrity, they required nearly $1,000,000 a year to keep in a state of competence.^[31] They were also considered functionally obsolete due to lacking emergency shoulders among many other things, resulting in the snarling of traffic when an accident or other obstruction occurred. On February 4, 2018,^[32] phase 1 of the project was started, and the westbound span was closed in order to demolish and rebuild a 0.58-mile (0.93 km) segment of it, from the 3rd Street intersection to the end of crossing the railroad tracks. In addition, modifications were made to the nearby roadway from there to Broadway Boulevard. After already removing the concrete segment, the Kansas River truss was demolished with explosives at around 8:30 on June 2, 2018.^[33] Work transitioned from deconstructing to reconstructing in November 2018. it was delayed due to the 2019 Midwestern U.S. floods.^[34] The bridge was reopened on January 23, 2021. Only one week after reopening, one of the westbound viaducts extant approaches were damaged by a truck that crashed into a guardrail at a sharp angle, along with other cars that fell off.^[35] On March 15, 2021, a reopening ceremony was held by KDOT representative Julie Lorenz, Secretary Sharince Davids, and .^[36] The project ultimately cost $65,000,000 (equivalent to $72.1 million in 2023^[5]), of which $58,400,000 was federally funded and $6,500,000 million was state paid (equivalent to $64.8 million and $7.21 million in 2023, respectively^[5]). The reconstruction required approximately 8,800,000 pounds (4,000,000 kg) of structural steel, 5,400 feet (1,600 linealm) of concrete girders, 21,000 cubic yards (16,000 m³) of concrete and 310,000,000 pounds (140,000,000 kg) of reinforcing steel. These new piers were constructed in a way so that the old ones did not need to be immediately demolished. They were also more complex, larger, and wider than the old ones. The bridge's lighting was upgraded and expanded across the bridge, prvisouly only he concrete segments had it.^[37]lighting was also to the Kansa River segment, and the piers were widened to add an adequate shoulder, additionally, repairs were made to other parts of the viaduct.

The eastbound span was closed for emergency deck repairs in October 2021.^[38]