U.S. Route 50 in Kansas

U.S. Route 50
Route information
Maintained by KDOT
Length:	447.93 mi[1] (720.87 km)
Existed:	1928 – present
Major junctions
West end:	US 50 / US 400 at Colorado state line
	US-83 in Garden City US-400 in Dodge City US-56 from Dodge City to Kinsley US-281 near St. John I-135 / US-81 / K-15 in Newton I-35 in Emporia US-59 in Ottawa US-169 / K-7 in Olathe I-35 / US-169 / US-56 / I-435 in Lenexa US-69 in Overland Park
East end:	I-435 / US 50 at State Line Road between Leawood, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List Bannered Divided Replaced Kansas numbered highways ← K-49 K-51 →

In the U.S. state of Kansas, U.S. Route 50 (US-50) is a main east–west highway serving the southwest, central and northeastern parts of the state. Kansas City is the only metropolitan area US-50 serves in the state but the highway does serve several other larger towns in Kansas such as (from west to east) Garden City, Dodge City, Hutchinson, Newton and Emporia.

Route description

US-50 enters the state running concurrently with US-400, which joins US-50 at Granada, Colorado. The first town it runs through is Coolidge. Syracuse is the first county seat (Hamilton County).

US-50 then enters Kearney County and passes though the towns of Lakin and Deerfield before entering Finney County. West of the Old US-50 and Big Lowe Road overpass in Holcomb US-50 splits into four lanes and the speed limit increases to 70 MPH until east of the intersection with US-83. The highway then tapers back into two lanes at the 3rd Street intersection and remains so until the intersection with Bus-50 south of town. US-50 then passes though the towns of Ingalls, Cimarron, Dodge City, Kinsley, and Hutchinson before it heads to Newton. In Newton, US-50 joins Interstate 135 for a short time before it angles northeast to Emporia, another meat-packing town as well as the home of Emporia State University. US-50 then joins I-35 and it overlaps that interstate for most of the rest of the way in Kansas.

US-50, along with I-35, then passes through a place known as "BETO Junction," which is where it meets US-75 north of Burlington. The letters in the acronym stand for Burlington, Emporia, Topeka and Ottawa, which are the cities to the south, west, north and east, respectively.

From there, US-50 passes through Olathe and meets I-435 in Lenexa. At this point. US-50 leaves I-35 and joins I-435 for the rest of its trip in Kansas.

History

US-50 once had a split into two branch routes in Kansas.^[2] Branch routes were once common along the U.S. highway system but have always been discouraged. Most branch routes that remain exist mostly in Kentucky and Tennessee.

The US-50 split began in Garden City and ended near Baldwin City. In Garden City, the split began at Kansas Avenue and Main Street. US-50N continued east on Kansas Ave. and went through Jetmore, Larned, Great Bend, Lyons, McPherson and Baldwin City. US-50S ran along current US-50. The routes rejoined near what is now the intersection of US-56 and K-33.

US-50N was replaced by US-156 from Garden City to Great Bend and US-56 the rest of the way. US-156 is now known as K-156. The split was removed during the late 1950s.^[3][4]

Junction list

County	Location	mi [5]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Hamilton	Coolidge	0.000	0.000		US 50 / US 400 west – Lamar	Continuation into Colorado
	Syracuse	16.094	25.901		K-27 north (McDow Street) – Tribune	West end of concurrency with K-27
		16.624	26.754		K-27 south (Main Street) – Johnson City	East end of concurrency with K-27
Kearny	Lakin	43.965	70.755		K-25 (Main Street) – Ulysses, Leoti
Finney	Holcomb	59.848	96.316		Big Lowe Road – Holcomb	Diamond interchange
	Garden City	65.848	105.972		US-83 north / US-50 Bus. east / US-83 Bus. south – Garden City, Scott City	Diamond interchange; west end of concurrency with US-83
		69.618	112.039		K-156 (Kansas Avenue) / Mary Street	Pair of half-diamond interchanges with one-way ramps connecting Mary Street and K-156
		71.156	114.514		US-83 south / US-50 Bus. west (Fulton Street) – Garden City, Liberal	Partial cloverleaf interchange; east end of concurrency with US-83
Gray	Cimarron	102.427	164.840		K-23 (Main Street) – Meade, Dighton
Ford		116.681	187.780		US-400 east – Greensburg, Hugoton	East end of concurrency with US-400
	Dodge City	126.349	203.339		US-56 west / US-283 south – Dodge City, Minneola	West end of concurrencies with US-56 and US-283
	Wright	128.085	206.133		US-283 north – Jetmore	East end of concurrency with US-283
Edwards	Kinsley	156.245	251.452		US-56 east – Great Bend	East end of concurrency with US-56
		157.363	253.251		US-183 (Niles Avenue) – Greensburg, La Crosse
	Belpre	175.192	281.944		K-19 north (Larned Street) – Larned
Stafford		194.427	312.900		US-281 – Great Bend, Pratt
Reno		232.954	374.903		K-61 south (John Neal Memorial Highway) – Pratt	Interchange; west end of concurrency with K-61
		238.462	383.767		K-14 north / K-96 west (Nickerson Boulevard) – Lyons	Partial cloverleaf interchange; west end of concurrencies with K-14 and K-96
	South Hutchinson	239.974	386.201		K-14 south / K-96 east / Main Street north – South Hutchinson, Wichita	Diamond interchange; east end of concurrencies with K-14 and K-96
		240.957	387.783		Scott Boulevard / McNew Road	Diamond interchange
	Hutchinson	242.535	390.322		K-61 north (John Neal Memorial Highway) / Lorraine Street south – McPherson	East end of concurrency with K-61
					Yoder Road	Interchange
Harvey		264.566	425.778		K-89 south (Hertzler Road) – Halstead
	Newton	271.238	436.515		Meridian Road north	Partial cloverleaf interchange
		272.514	438.569		Anderson Avenue	Interchange
		273.514	440.178		K-15 north (Kansas Avenue)	Partial cloverleaf interchange; west end of concurrency with K-15
		274.272	441.398		I-135 / US-81 / K-15 south – Wichita	Full Y interchange; east end of concurrency with K-15; west end of concurrency with I-135/US-81; I=135 exit 30
		275.037– 275.543	442.629– 443.443	31	First Street / Broadway Street	Pair of half-diamond interchanges with one-way ramps connecting First Street and Broadway Street; exit number follows I-135
		276.373	444.779		I-135 / US-81 north – Salina	Eastbound exit westbound entrance; east end of concurrency with I-135/US-81; I-135 exit number 33
		277.406	446.442		Old Trail Road west	Interchange; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Marion	Florence	302.524	486.865		US-77 / Eighth Street east – Marion, El Dorado	Roundabout
Chase	Elmdale	320.589	515.938		K-150 west – Marion
	Strong City	327.581	527.191		K-177 – Cottonwood Falls, Council Grove	Partial cloverleaf interchange
Lyon	Emporia	345.346	555.781		To I-35 / I-335 / Kansas Turnpike – Topeka, Kansas City, Wichita	Roundabout with connector to I-35; I-35 Exit 127A
		348.128	560.258		K-99 (Commercial Street) – Olpe, Admire
		350.438	563.975		I-35 south – Wichita	Diamond interchange; west end of concurrency with I-35; I-35 exit 133
		352.812	567.796	135	County Road R1	Exit numbers follow I-35
		355.688	572.424	138	County Road U
		358.703	577.277	141	K-130 south – Neosho Rapids, Hartford
Coffey	Lebo	365.944	588.930	148	K-131 south – Lebo
		372.996	600.279	155	US-75 – Burlington, Lyndon
Osage				160	K-31 north – Melvern	West end of concurrency with K-31
				162	K-31 south – Waverly	East end of concurrency with K-31
Franklin	Williamsburg			170	Dane Avenue south – Williamsburg, Pomona
				176	Idaho Road – Homewood
	Ottawa			182	Eisenhower Road
				183	US-59 south / Princeton Street north – Garnett	West end of concurrency with US-59
				185	15th Street
				187	K-68 (Logan Street) – Ottawa, Louisburg
				188	US-59 north – Lawrence	East end of concurrency with US-59
				193	Tennessee Road
	Wellsville			198	K-33 (Poplar Street) – Wellsville
Johnson	Edgerton			202	Sunflower Road – Edgerton
	Gardner			207	Gardner Road
				210	US-56 west / 175th Street east – Gardner	West end of concurrency with US-56
	Olathe			214	Lone Elm Road / 159th Street
				215	US-169 south / K-7 / 151st Street – Paola	West end of concurrency with US-169
				217	Old Highway 56 west	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
				218	Santa Fe Street
				220	119th Street
	Lenexa			222 83	I-35 north / I-435 west / US-56 east / US-169 north – Kansas City, Des Moines	Signed as exits 222A (I-435 east) and 222B (I-435 west) on I-35; exit 83 on I-435; east end of concurrencies with I-35, US-56, and US-169; west end of concurrency with I-435
	Overland Park			82	Quivira Road	Exit numbers follow I-435
				81	US-69 (Overland Parkway)
				80	Antioch Road
				79	Metcalf Avenue
				77B	Nall Ave	Diverging diamond interchange converted from existing diamond interchange
				77A	Roe Ave
	Leawood			75B	State Line Road I-435 / US 50 east – Kansas City	Continuation into Missouri
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

Special routes

In Garden City. US-50 and US-83 each have business routes. They both start at the same place, at the junction of US-50, 83 and 400 about one mile (1.6 km) north of town. They run concurrently along the former alignments of US-50 and 83 through town to the intersection of Main Street and Fulton Street. At that point, the business routes split and Business 50 heads east to meet up with US-50, 83 and 400 east of town.

US-50 once had alternate routings in Garden City and Dodge City and business routes in Dodge City and Ottawa. Former Alternate 50 in Garden City is now known as Campus Drive. Its purpose was to connect US-50 travelers to then-US-156 without having to go all the way into downtown. Its purpose was taken over by Spur US-83 in the 1970s. Spur US-83 is now the bypass around Garden City that carries highways 50, 83 and 400.

Former Alternate 50 at Dodge City is now the main route for US-50. Business 50 in Dodge City was decommissioned when the US-400 bypass was built to the south and west of that city. Business 50 in Ottawa ran along the former US-50 alignment through Ottawa.

References

1. Federal Highway Administration, National Highway Planning Network GIS data version 2005.08
2. "1932 Kansas Highway Map" (PDF). Kansas Department of Transportation. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
3. "1956 Kansas Highway Map" (PDF). Kansas Department of Transportation. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
4. "1957 Kansas Highway Map" (PDF). Kansas Department of Transportation. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
5. Kansas Department of Transportation. "Pavement Management Information System". Retrieved 2012-11-10.

External links

• Kansas Highway Maps: Current, Historic, KDOT
• 1926 US Highway Map, Department of Agriculture