Berkley Riverfront — Attraction in Kansas City

My friend and I bicycled along the Riverfront Heritage Trail at Berkley Riverfront, and we were very happy to see the beautification projects the city has completed to make the Riverfront a place to visit.

There's an outdoor fitness station which is very well-equipped; there's also plenty of benches and lookout points where you can stop and admire the Missouri River rolling past you. There are even stools strategically placed at the edge of the path so that you can watch the drawbridge operate when a large vessel passes through!

Berkley Park is lovely and green, and the Heritage Trail itself is well-designed and maintained but relatively short. We had to take the elevator up to the street level and then navigate along Main Street to 3rd Street to Madison to catch the Intercity Viaduct trail to travel further west (all the way to Kaw Point, this trip).

A couple of suggestions for the city to further improve the riverfront area:

1. Have public restrooms available. Port-a-potties just don't cut it anymore.
2. Pave the parking lot (or at least a pathway) you must drive through to get to riverfront parking from the street. The gravel lot is poorly maintained and we had to dodge a LOT of potholes.
3. Extend the Heritage Trail to the west--or at least have clear signage regarding how to link up with the Interstate Viaduct Trail. We relied on Google Maps, and there were a couple of places where we were competing with cars for space on the road. It would have been nice to have a clear bicycle path option for our travels.

We'll take a few months before we return, but we're interested to go back to Berkley Riverfront and see if any upgrades...

I’ve spent a lot of time enjoying urban parks and especially riverfront parks. The Chicago Riverwalk, San Antonio Riverwalk, and Memphis Bluffs have been some of my favorites – so I used those as my benchmark when I visited Kansas City’s riverfront.

I was disappointed by Berkley Riverfront and the Riverfront Heritage Trail. The limited number of convenient access points is frustrating. Once you’re actually in the park, there are not enough places to sit, and not enough trees to provide shade while you’re sitting. I came into the park via the Riverfront Heritage Trail from 2nd & Main Streets, and it took me a while (20+ minutes?) to walk to a point where I could sit and actually enjoy the park/views.

Also frustrating is that public transit access to the riverfront is poorly designed: as I was leaving Berkley Riverfront, I decided to take KCTA’s 77 bus (the only route passing near the park) back to downtown. The bus stop (near to the Union Berkley apartment building) is just a sign on the grass next to the street – no sidewalk, no bus shelter, and clearly an afterthought. If they could build a shelter for the bikeshares/scooters, you think they could’ve done the same for transit riders as well!

Lastly, I was personally unimpressed by the actual views from the park. Looking north the Missouri River was murky, and looking south the views of the downtown skyline weren’t great. If you’re interested in photographing these, I wouldn’t recommend this spot.

All in all, Kansas City is full of beautiful spots but this wasn’t one of them. But Berkley Riverfront gets 2 stars from me instead of 1 because, hey, at least...

Maybe I’m just desensitized to the kc parks system, but nothing special here. Just grass next to the river. Definitely wouldn’t ever make a special trip to go there—just not sure what the point is, besides the obvious; nice little stroll down the river. I used to like it for its ability to help me feel far removed from the city, peaceful, etc. but now that it’s been developed with a bunch of cookie cutter apartments over the past few years, that appeal is gone. It almost feels like the park is part of/belongs to the apartment residents considering the proximity - the parking for the park visitors is in the apartment parking, for example. Idk, it’s just kind of odd and uncomfortable, makes me feel out of place and again, there’s nothing to do but walk. I find the riverfront park boat ramp just down the road a bit more interesting, pretty view of downtown off in the distance, actually feels like a park…that being said, Berkeley is well maintained, best for walking dog, playing with kids, or taking a nap after getting day drunk at...