K-10 (Kansas highway)
K-10 is a 36.611-mile-long (58.920 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Kansas. It was originally designated in 1929. It is mostly a controlled-access freeway, linking Lawrence to Lenexa. It provides an important toll-free alternate route to Interstate 70 (the Kansas Turnpike). Several scenes for the TV-movie The Day After were filmed on the highway at De Soto in 1982 portraying a mass exodus evacuating the Kansas City area on I-70.
K-10 | ||||
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K-10 highlighted in red | ||||
Route information | ||||
Maintained by KDOT | ||||
Length | 36.611 mi (58.920 km) | |||
Existed | 1929–present | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end | I-70 / Kansas Turnpike in Lawrence | |||
East end | I-435 / I-35 in Lenexa | |||
Location | ||||
Counties | Douglas, Johnson | |||
Highway system | ||||
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Route description
The highway's western end begins as a two-lane highway at I-70 exit 197, just west of Lawrence. It bypasses the city to the south, providing access to Clinton Lake, and also intersects with U.S. Route 59, beginning a four lane freeway after the interchange. K-10 continues to the northeast on the new South Lawrence Trafficway (completed 2016) before interchanging with 23rd Street (Old K-10). After exiting Lawrence eastbound, it passes through the city of Eudora, and then the cities of De Soto and Olathe, suburbs of Kansas City. It then terminates at an interchange with Interstate 435 and Interstate 35 in Lenexa. In Johnson County, the road is called the Governor John Anderson, Jr. Highway.
History
K-10 originally extended west of Lawrence to Herington, via Alta Vista, Alma, and Topeka. In 1956 the portion between Topeka and K-99 near Alma was designated as US-40 in preparation for upgrading this stretch to Interstate standards (for I-70). The segment between Alta Vista and Herington was redesignated as K-4 and K-10 was truncated eastward to Lawrence.
The process of upgrading K-10 to a freeway was begun in 1974. The first section completed was the section from De Soto to the junction with K-7, opening on November 8, 1976. The freeway was finally completed on December 18, 1984, when the stretch from K-7 to I-435 was completed.[1] The old two-lane roadbed of K-10 was turned over to the counties to use as a secondary route. In Douglas County it became CR 442, although many of the locals, especially in Eudora, commonly refer to it as Old K-10.
The portion of K-10 between the Edgerton Road exit and the De Soto interchange at former K-285 (now Lexington Avenue) was used in the movie The Day After and, for the purposes of the film, was temporarily redesignated Interstate 70.
South Lawrence Trafficway
In the early 1970s traffic studies of K-10 determined a bypass around the west and south sides of Lawrence was necessary, and the Kansas Department of Transportation commenced due diligence on the bypass project. The bypass on the west side of Lawrence was completed in November 1996. Prior to the opening of the trafficway, K-10 had ended at the junction of US-40 and US-59 in Lawrence. Completion of the eastern leg of the trafficway was delayed for nearly three decades by lawsuits from environmentalist groups and Haskell University, as the planned route took the highway through the Haskell-Baker Wetlands. In October 2012, the deadline for the plaintiffs of the lawsuits to seek a Supreme Court review of the case passed,[2] and a mitigation plan for the wetlands was added to the trafficway plans.[3] Construction began on November 12, 2013,[4] and was anticipated to be completed by Fall 2016 before Thanksgiving.[5] The ribbon cutting ceremony for the trafficway was held on November 4, 2016, and in attendance were many local and state leaders including Governor Sam Brownback and Senator Pat Roberts. The trafficway officially opened to all traffic on November 9, 2016.[6]
Future
In Spring 2020, KDOT announced it was evaluating three alternatives to reconstruct the interchange with K-10 and I-70, and to add a grade separated interchange to the K-10 / Wakarusa Drive intersection. The preferred alternative will be identified in the Fall of 2020.[7]
Junction list
All exits are unnumbered.
County | Location | mi[8] | km | Destinations | Notes |
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Douglas | | 0.000 | 0.000 | I-70 / Kansas Turnpike – Topeka, Kansas City | Western terminus; I-70 / KTA exit 197; partial cloverleaf interchange; roadway continues north as E 850 Road |
| 1.874 | 3.016 | US-40 west (6th Street) – Lawrence, Topeka | Western end of US-40 overlap; diamond interchange | |
| Bob Billings Parkway / N 1500 Road | Diamond interchange, opened December 2015 | |||
Lawrence | Clinton Parkway | East end of two-lane expressway | |||
Wakarusa Drive / 27th Street | Proposed diverging diamond interchange,[9] currently open as an at-grade signal-controlled intersection | ||||
8.429 | 13.565 | US-40 east / US-59 – Lawrence, Ottawa | Eastern end of US-40 overlap; diamond interchange; west end of freeway | ||
10.724 | 17.259 | CR-1055 (E 1500 Road) / Haskell Avenue | Partial cloverleaf interchange, opened November 2016 | ||
23rd Street | Directional T interchange; formerly K-10 west | ||||
| 14.869 | 23.929 | CR-1057 (E 1900 Road) | Diamond interchange | |
Eudora | 17.843 | 28.716 | CR-1061 (Church Street / E 2200 Road) – Eudora | Diamond interchange | |
19.268 | 31.009 | CR-442 (N 1400 Road) | Old K-10; diamond interchange | ||
Johnson | | Evening Star Road | Diamond interchange | ||
| Edgerton Road | Diamond interchange | |||
De Soto | 24.637 | 39.649 | Lexington Avenue | Partial cloverleaf interchange; former alignment of K-10; designated as K-285 until its decommissioning in 1997 [10] | |
Kill Creek Road | Diamond interchange | ||||
Lenexa–Olathe line | Cedar Creek Parkway | Diamond interchange | |||
31.980 | 51.467 | K-7 – Bonner Springs, Olathe | Cloverleaf interchange | ||
Woodland Road | Diamond interchange | ||||
Ridgeview Road | Diverging diamond interchange; prior interchange converted July 2015[11] | ||||
Lenexa | Renner Boulevard | Partial cloverleaf interchange | |||
36.611 | 58.920 | I-435 to I-35 / Renner Boulevard, Lackman Road – Wichita, Des Moines | Eastern terminus; I-435 exit 1B | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
- Toplikar, David (December 17, 1984). "Missing Link on way to KC Falls Into Place". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
- Lawhorn, Chad (October 9, 2012). "South Lawrence Trafficway legal fight ends with passing of deadline". LJWorld.com. The Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- Lawhorn, Chad (June 3, 2011). "KDOT commits $192 million to complete South Lawrence Trafficway". LJWorld.com. The Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- Lawhorn, Chad (November 12, 2013). "Construction work begins on South Lawrence Trafficway". LJWorld.com. The Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- Lawhorn, Chad (March 18, 2014). "Work to build trafficway through Baker Wetlands to begin this week". LJWorld.com. The Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- Lawhorn, Chad (November 4, 2016). "Leaders laud completion of SLT at ribbon-cutting; road to open to traffic on Wednesday". LJWorld.com. The Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- "Alternatives Evaluation Process Project Factsheet - South Lawrence Trafficway". slt-ks.org. Spring 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- Staff (2016). "Pavement Management Information System". Kansas Department of Transportation. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
- Jones, Elvyn (June 26, 2016). "Douglas County Commission looks to keep Wakarusa Drive extension on 'front burner'". Lawrence Journal-World. Ogden Newspapers of Kansas LLC. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
- http://route56.com/highways/highways.php?hwy=285&seg=1&hist=1
- KDOT. "Translines Express July 29, 2015" (PDF). Kansas Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 7, 2016.