The Downtown Loop (nicknamed the Alphabet Loop) is a complex layout of

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

s in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

involving 24 exits, four

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...

s, four U.S. Highways, and numerous city streets. Each exit is numbered 2 and suffixed with every letter of the alphabet except I and O (to avoid confusion with the numbers 1 and 0). The entire circumference of the loop is just over .

Overview

The system is nicknamed the Alphabet Loop because its exits have letter suffixes that are nearly all the letters of the English alphabet. Alphabetically, the letter suffixes begin with A in the northwest corner of the loop and proceed forward in a clockwise direction around the loop. Eastbound on the north side of the loop (EB I-70/NB I-35) are A through G; then H through M southbound on the east side (EB I-70/SB US 71); then N through U westbound on the south side (WB I-670); and finally V through Z northbound on the west side (NB I-35 alone).

Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 and Maryland Route 570 (MD 570) in Woodlawn, Baltimo ...

enters the southeast corner of the loop and moves north forming the east and north sides of the loop and exiting in the northwest corner. Exits on I-70 range from 2A to 2M.

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican bo ...

enters the loop at its northeast corner, joining I-70 on the north side and forming the west side of the loop before exiting in the southwest corner. Exits on I-35 range from 2F to 2A while it overlaps I-70, and 2Y to 2U after I-70 exits the loop.

Interstate 29 Interstate 29 (I-29) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern United States. I-29 runs from Kansas City, Missouri, at a junction with I-35 and I-70, to the Canada–US border near Pembina, North Dakota, where it connects with Manitoba ...

does not enter the loop. It begins at the northeast corner and continues north, concurrent with I-35. These two leave the loop via the Christopher S. Bond Bridge and split several miles north. Interstate 670 forms the south side of the loop. I-670 splits from I-70 in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

, crosses over I-70 and enters the loop in the southwest corner, rejoining I-70 and ending in

in the southeast corner of the loop. I-670 is also signed as Alternate I-70. U.S. Route 71 is a highway that enters the loop in the southeast corner and leaves the loop with I-29 and I-35 in the northeast corner.

U.S. Route 24 U.S. Route 24 or U.S. Highway 24 (US 24) is one of the original United States Numbered Highways of 1926 which runs east and west for most of its routing. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Misso ...

is a major city street which enters the loop in the northeast corner and follows I-35 and I-70 along the north side of the loop. Former US 24 now US-Bus 24 is also known as Independence Ave/Blvd and provides a street-level connection to Independence, Missouri. U.S. Route 40 overlaps I-70 throughout the northern and eastern sections of the loop. U.S. Route 169 enters the loop in the northwest corner from the Buck O'Neil Bridge, and joins I-70, continuing westward. Route 9 also provides access to the loop, ending at I-70 after crossing the Heart of America Bridge from North Kansas City.

History

The west side of the loop was built over a scenic road called Kersey Coates Drive. It had many affluent homes, and stairs lead down from Case Park immediately to the east. When the loop was completed, the multi-lane Interstate cut further into the bluff and these homes were razed. The stairway from Case Park was cut off halfway and remains between exits 2W and 2X. A March 2010 preliminary study of the Kansas City I-70 corridor made several innovative suggestions to relieve congestion in the downtown area. One proposal was to make the loop unidirectional, where the loop would essentially become a large

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

. In 2022, plans were approved to construct a $160 million cap over a stretch of I-670, on the loop's southern half. The cap is planned to be topped with a public park called South Loop Link.

Exit list

The following is the list of exits inside the loop in order as encountered if entering the loop from eastbound I-70.

Clockwise exits

Counterclockwise exits

Entrances

References

External links

{{Attached KML, from=Downtown freeway loop, display=title,inline Transportation in Kansas City, Missouri Interstate 35 Interstate 70 Interstate 29 U.S. Route 24 U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 71 U.S. Route 169 Transportation in Jackson County, Missouri