Re-designated 1935 (see history for details)
South Endpoint:
North Endpoint:
Counties Passed through: Montgomery, Neosho, Allen, Anderson, Franklin, Douglas, Jefferson, Atchison, Doniphan
History
The number 16 for this highway appears to be based upon the connecting Oklahoma highway number. State Highway maps from the 1920s era suggest that there were two independent highways with the designation of K-16.[1] An article in the Lawrence Journal-World, however, indicated that highway 16 followed US 73W through Douglas County.[2] Presumably, it followed 73W from Chanute to Nortonville and K-4 from Nortonville to Atchison.
When the state highway system was created, K-16 was hard-surfaced from Cherryvale to Morehead, gravel from Coffeyville to K-96 and from Earlton to Chanute, and graded dirt elsewhere where it was not concurrent with another highway.[1] By 1928, K-16 was hard-surfaced from K-96 to Cherryvale and from Thayer to Earlton, with the remaining graded dirt segments gravelled.[3] By 1932, K-16 was paved from K-96 south to Liberty.[4] By 1933, the segment from Liberty to Coffeyville had been hard-surfaced.[5]
In 1935, US 169 was extended into Kansas, replacing the southern portion of K-16. At the same time, US 24 was extended into Kansas, requiring a new designation for the existing highway 24. The Highway Commission decided to re-designate the northern segment of K-16 as an extension of K-7, and reassign the number 16 to the former K-24.[6]
History Footnotes
1 Kansas Highway Commission. Kansas State Highway System [map]. Topeka: Kansas State Printing Plant, 1 Jan. 1927
2 "Network of Roads" Lawrence Journal-World 23 Mar. 1928. 1. Accessed 14 Sept. 2013
3 Kansas Highway Commission. Kansas State Highway System [map]. Topeka: Kansas State Printing Plant, 1 Oct. 1928
4 Kansas Highway Commission. Kansas State Highway System [map]. Topeka: Kansas State Printing Plant, 1 Apr. 1932. Accessed 11 Aug. 2013
5 Kansas Highway Commission. Kansas State Highway System [map]. Topeka: Kansas State Printing Plant, 1 June 1933
11 Aug. 20136 Kansas State Highway Commission. Kansas Highway Map [map]. Topeka: Kansas State Printing Plant, Apr. 1936. Accessed 13 Sept. 2013