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The Atlas/Missouri/Old Red Bridge Love Locks

Old Red Bridge Love Locks

Missouri
Region
Attraction
Stop type
Standalone stop
Atlas

A decommissioned steel bridge in Minor Park in south Kansas City, the Old Red Bridge carries Kansas City's "love locks" tradition. When a new span opened on Red Bridge Road, the old bridge over the Blue River was kept as a pedestrian crossing, and beginning in 2013 couples started attaching padlocks to its railings — a custom borrowed from Europe that has grown from about a hundred locks to several thousand. The crossing sits at the historic Santa Fe Trail ford of the Blue River, where the first "red bridge" was built in 1859, off Red Bridge Road between Holmes Road and Blue River Road.

// Why riders stop

A quick, quirky photo stop just off Red Bridge Road in south Kansas City — easy to reach from I-435, with parking in Minor Park and a short walk to the bridge over the Blue River. Works well as a turnaround or meetup point on a south-metro or Blue River loop. (KC Water asks visitors to keep keys and cut locks out of the river.)

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