KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City is one step closer to creating a new park atop Interstate 670.

Last spring, city leaders unveiled plans to create a new five-acre park to be built over I-670, bridging downtown and the Crossroads District.

H&R Block announced Friday it will contribute $10 million to the South Loop Link project. The latest contribution, paired with the $28.6 million allocation from the Missouri Department of Transportation and a $5 million private pledge from Loews Hotels & Co., puts the city roughly one-fifth of the way towards its fundraising goal for the park. 

The original cost of the South Loop Link was estimated at $160 million. City officials now estimate the project will cost $200 million to complete. 

The lid over I-670 will stretch from Wyandotte Street to Grand Boulevard and could feature variety of amenities including playgrounds, dog parks and amphitheater space.

“It’s healing the blight created by the I-670 gulch; reducing air and noise pollution, water pollution. It’s reconnecting two neighborhoods and communities that were torn apart by the building of I-670. We’re basically reweaving the urban fabric with this project,” Bill Dietrich, President and CEO of the Downtown Council, said. 

The city will host a town hall meeting for the South Loop Link project on Tuesday, March 7 at the Kirk Family YMCA at 222 W. 11th St. 

No completion date has been announced for the new park, but the project team hopes to open the South Loop Link ahead of the 2026 World Cup.