Kansas Highways: Numbers 40-59

US 50S

Historic West Endpoint:
Junction US 50/US 50N/US 83 in Garden City

Historic East Endpoint:
Junction US 50/US 50N/US 59 west of Baldwin City

Historic Counties Served:
Finney, Gray, Ford, Edwards, Stafford, Reno, Harvey, Marion, Chase, Lyon, Coffey, Osage, Franklin, Douglas (1926-1956)

History

US 50S ran from Garden City through Dodge City, Hutchinson, and Newton before arriving at Emporia and then to Ottawa, where it traveled north on US 59 to meet with US 50N at Baldwin Junction.

By 1932, US 50S was already hard-surfaced for a significant distance, with the only segments not hard surfaced being between northeast of Newton to Cottonwood Falls, and between the Lyon/Coffey County Line and Ottawa. Also, at the junction with US 75, 50S followed US 75 to just south of Lyndon, then headed east through Quenemo and Pomona to Ottawa.

By October, 1935, a new hard-surfaced alignment was built between Strong City and Elmdale, bypassing Cottonwood Falls.

By 1936, the remaining unpaved segments of US 50S between Florence and US 75 were hard-surfaced. 50S was re-aligned on the hard-surfaced K-33 in Franklin and Coffey Counties, with the old 50S alignment from Lyndon to Ottawa re-designated K-68.

In a resolution dated December, 1939, the south junction of US 50S and US 59 was re-aligned, eliminiating a railroad grade crossing on the south side of Ottawa.

US 50S was hard-surfaced in its entirety by 1941.

In a resolution dated June of 1946, US 50S was designated on a new alignment 1/2 mile to the north for 4 miles to the west. A December 1948 resolution did the same for 6 miles to the east of Emporia, and a September 1950 resolution extended the eastern realignment for another 4 miles to the Coffey County line. These relocations were completed by 1953.

The US 50 N/S split was eliminated with AASHO’s June 1956 approval of US 56 and 156. As part of the approved new highway designation, US 50S was re-designated as US 50.

A bypass to the North of Emporia had been shown as proposed as far back as the June 1946 resolution. In October 1950, a resolution officially designated the proposed bypass as part of US 50S. The bypass would be eventually be completed and designated I-35.

US 50 Spur (Garden City)

Histoiric West Endpoint:
Junction US 50, present-day Campus Drive and Fulton Street, Garden City

Historic East Endpoint:
Junction US 156, present-day Campus Drive and Kansas Avenue, Garden City

Historic County Served: Finney (1953-1973)

History

In a resolution passed in December of 1952, the State Highway Commision established a new spur route of US 50S to connect with US 50N east of Garden City.

By 1970, the Garden City city limits had extended out to the US 50 spur, and plans were underway for a new bypass around Garden City to the east and north. A May, 1970 resolution designated this new bypass as a spur of US 83. The new route intersected US 50 and US 156 1/2 mile east of the existing spur route. While the resolution did not specifically remove the US 50 spur, it is probably safe to say that it was withdrawn as a state highway when the parallel segment of the Garden City bypass was opened to traffic by 1973.

US 50A (Dodge City)

Historic West Endpoint:
Junction US 50 west of Dodge City

East Endpoint:
Junction US 50/56/283 northeast of Dodge City

Historic County Served:
Ford (1955-1981)

History

In late 1948, A new alignment for US 50S and US 283 was laid out, cutting diagonally to the southwest from the existing alignment 4 miles east of Dodge City, then turning west to what was then known as Chestnut Street. By 1952, this new corridor was completed, but the highway commission subsequently designated a new northern bypass from where US 50S previously turned south onto Central Avenue, then west about 1 1/4 mile before turning southwest to meet US 50 west of town. By 1955, the northern bypass was completed, and was assigned the designation US 50 Alternate.

The State Highway Commission never sought the inclusion of this route, among others, as part of the US Highway system. After the Highway Commission was reformed into the Kansas Department of Transportation, KDOT submitted this route for approval as a alternate route of US 50. AASHTO approved the request as a business loop at their October 1979 meeting. However, since this route was a bypass, KDOT rejected the conditionally approved designation and re-submitted it for the November 1980 meeting, this time designating the bypass as US 50, and establishing the exiting US 50 as a business route. AASHTO approved the modified request, and KDOT confirmed the change with via resolution in April 1981.

K-51

Length: 79.095 miles

West Endpoint: Colorado State Line northwest of Elkhart

East Endpoint: Junction US 83 north of Liberal

Counties Served: Morton, Stevens, Seward

Junction Guide

AADT (2019)

K-52 (1926-1931)

Historic West Endpoint: K-22 north of Scott City

Historic East Endpoint: K-1/K-4 near La Crosse

Historic Counties Served: Scott, Lane, Ness, Rush (1926-1931)

History

The highway from Scott City to La Crosse was a late addition to the state highway system and was numbered K-52 in the final version of the original highway numbering plan as the lowest number available. Although it was a logical extension of K-4, a separate designation was maintained until 1931, when it was re-designated as K-4.

US 54

Length: 380.350 miles

West Endpoint:
Oklahoma State Line southwest of Liberal

East Endpoint:
Missouri State Line east of Fort Scott

Counties Served:
Seward, Meade, Clark, Ford, Kiowa, Pratt, Kingman, Sedgwick, Butler, Greenwood, Woodson, Allen, Bourbon

(More…)

US 56

Length: 471.450 miles

West Endpoint: Oklahoma State Line at Elkhart

East Endpoint: Missouri State Line in Mission Hills

Counties Served:
Morton, Stevens, Seward, Haskell, Gray, Ford, Edwards, Pawnee, Barton, Rice, McPherson, Marion, Dickinson, Morris, Lyon, Osage, Douglas, Johnson

(More…)

K-56 (1926-1936)

Historic West Endpoint: Junction US 73E near Trading Post

Historic East Endpoint: Missouri State Line west of Butler, MO

Historic County Served: Linn (1926-1936)

History

The highway from Trading Post to the Missouri Border was originally slated to be numbered K-24 to match the connecting Missouri highway. However, the addition of US 24 in Missouri caused Missouri to re-number their highway to highway 52. As the number 52 had already been assigned to a route in western Kansas, the highway commission used the lowest number available.

By 1931, the K-52 in western Kansas had been renumbered K-4, thus allowing the number 52 to be used for this route. K-56, along with K-48, a new route from Mound City to Blue Mound, and K-6 from Kincaid to Moran, was designated K-52 in 1937.

K-57

Length: 31.200 miles

Northwest Endpoint: 
US 40 at Junction City (1926-1960)
I-70/US 40 near Grandview Plaza (1960-1968)
US 77 northeast of Milford Dam (1968-present)

Southeast Endpoint:
Missouri State Line near Opolis (1926-2003)
US 169 near Colony (2003-2004)
K-4 at Dwight (2004-present)

Counties Served: Geary, Morris

Historic Counties Served:
Chase, Lyon, Greenwood, Coffey, Anderson (1926-2004)
Allen, Neosho, Crawford (1926-2003)

Junction Guide

AADT (2019)

K-58 (1926-1978)

Historic Southwest Endpoint:
US 50 near Lenexa

Historic Northeast Endpoint:
US 73E in Overland Park (1926-1936)
K-5 at 18th Street and Quindaro in Kansas City (1936-1978)

Historic Counties Served:
Johnson (1926-1978), Wyandotte (1936-1978)

History

It is likely that the Lenexa-Overland Park route was added to the state highway system just after the original numbering plan for Kansas highways was implemented, and the number was assigned in sequence.

In 1936, most of US 73E south of Kansas City was re-numbered as an extension of US 69. As a result, K-58 was extended north along US 69 to Southwest Boulevard, then replaced US 73E along Antoine Road, Strong Avenue, and Goddard Street to Argentine Boulevard, crossed the Kansas River on the Argentine Bridge, then turned north along 18th Street to K-5 at Quindaro Boulevard.

The great flood of 1951 damaged the Argentine bridge, resulting in its permanent closure. When its replacement, the 18th Street Expressway, was completed in 1956, K-58 was routed onto the Shawnee Mission Parkway from Metcalf to Roe, then north on Roe to the 18th Street Expressway.

K-58 was removed from the state highway system upon the passage of the 1978 legislature’s Proposal No. 61, which disallowed intra-city highways.

K-59 (1926-1936)

Length: 1.5 miles

Historic South Endpoint: North City Limits of Halstead

Historic North Endpoint: Junction US 50S north of Halstead

Historic County Served: Harvey

History:

K-59 was the original number for the spur from Halstead to US 50S. The number was assigned in sequence. It was graded between 1930 and 1932.

K-59 was renumbered to K-89 in 1936 to allow the number 59 to be used for the newly designated US 59.