Kansas Highways Routelog

US Highway 50

A50
Length: 447.79 miles
West Endpoint:
Colorado State Line west of Coolidge

East Endpoint:
Counties Passed through: Hamilton, Kearney, Finney, Gray, Ford, Edwards, Stafford, Reno, Harvey, Marion, Chase, Lyon, Coffey, Osage, Franklin, Douglas, Miami, Johnson

History

Across Kansas, 50 was a split route between Garden City and Baldwin Junction in Douglas County. See the history of US 50N and US 50S for an overview of the history of the individual segments of the split routes.

Outside the splits, by 1932, US 50 was gravel between Syracuse and Kendall, and between Baldwin and Gardner, with the remainder hard-surfaced. The rest of US 50 in Johnson County was hard surfaced by 1933, and in Hamilton and Douglas Counties by 1936.

By 1955, The US 50 N/S split was eliminated with the introduction of US 56 and 156. As a consequence, the Baldwin Junction-Kansas City segment of US 50 was re-desinated as US 50/56. By 1962, I-35 had been completed between Kansas City and Ottawa, and US 50's designation was moved to the new highway, re-designating the old US50S between Ottawa and Baldwin Junction solely as US 59, and the old US 50 east of Baldwin Junction solely as US 56. US 50 no longer went through Douglas County, but cut across the northwest corner of Miami County.

I-35 re-joined the old US 50 alignment at Olathe, and was built on top of it from Olathe to the Shawnee Mission Parkway. US 50 (and US 56) followed the Shawnee Mission Parkway east to the Missouri State Line. By 1984, US 50 was moved from the Shawnee Mission Parkway to I-435.

Average Annual Daily Traffic
Junction Guide
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