Nearly 40 years ago, Kansas City officials made a huge mistake that damaged a large swath of this city and left a nasty, painful wound smack in the middle of our predominantly Black community.
I’m talking about U.S. 71 Highway, a major north-south thoroughfare traveled daily by thousands of metropolitan area residents — most of whom probably have no idea of the history of the road or about how it has negatively impacted the communities it ripped apart.
Now the city — working with the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Mid-America Regional Council and members of the affected community — says it wants to repair the economic, social, health and safety problems caused when the roadway was built between 1987 and 200l, and in the 25 subsequent years…