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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There will be a few more traffic headaches downtown beginning Wednesday morning.

Contractors working on the KC Streetcar extension will begin welding 700 pounds of steel around 10:15 a.m. Workers from Holland Welding will heat the ends of two pieces of rail to about 2,800 degrees. The hot metal is then pressed together to form the completed rail.

The construction project will cause Main Street to be reduced between 27th Street and Warwick Trafficway. Grand Boulevard will also be impacted, and closed between Main Street and Warwick Trafficway. Main will reopen in about two weeks, after the welding project is complete.

The Main Street project is a 3.5-mile extension of the KC Streetcar System. It will run from Union Station to the University of Missouri – Kansas City at 51st Street and Brookside Boulevard.

The project is expected to cost $351 million, and is funded with federal Capital Investment Grant funds and local funding approved through the Transportation Development District.