Councilmembers in the second district got a first-hand look of construction in the West Bottoms Industrial District by touring the bridges at 12^th Street and Beardsley Road. Councilwoman Bonnie Sue Cooper, 2^nd District-at-Large, and Councilman John Fairfield, 2^nd District, were joined by Tom Roberts of the Central Industrial District, and Darby Trotter of the Kansas City Industrial Council on the morning of July 27 and toured two of the many capital improvement projects scheduled for that area.

Construction on the 12^th Street Viaduct Bridge began in November 2004. This bridge rehabilitation project is being conducted in three phases. Phase I, which was completed in February 2006, involved work to restore the viaduct’s substructure from the west approach. The project is currently in Phase II, which involves refurbishing the middle deck, and is scheduled to be complete in October 2006. The third and final phase of construction involves rehabilitation work on the bridge deck, as well as repairing the eastern substructure. The upper deck will remain open to traffic with only partial closures. The entire bridge is scheduled to be complete in July 2008.