K-51 (Kansas highway)

Before state highways were numbered in Kansas there were auto trails, which were an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. The eastern terminus of K-51 (US-83) was part of the Atlantic and Pacific Highway. It connected Los Angeles on the Pacific Ocean with New York City on the Atlantic Ocean.[15]

K-51 was first designated as a state highway in 1926, and at that time started as a continuation of Colorado Highway 51 and went east to K-25 (current K-27).[2] Then by 1927, K-25 was renumbered as K-27 and K-51 was extended along K-27 to Richfield then south to K-12 north of Rolla.[3][18] Between 1930 and 1931, K-51 was replaced with an extension of K-12.[19][20] In a January 1, 1937 resolution, K-51 was re-established from the Colorado border east to K-27.[21] Then between 1936 and February 1937, K-51 was extended east and replaced the former K-12, from K-27 in Richfield to US-83 by Liberal.[16][17] Between February 1937 and January 1938, US-270 was extended into Kansas, and overlapped K-51 from the eastern end of the overlap with K-25 to US-83.[17][22] This lasted until 1981, when in a May 18, 1981 resolution, the US-270 designation was removed and was truncated to Liberal.[23] In a January 4, 1939 resolution, K-51 was to be realigned where it crosses the Cimarron River to eliminate two sharp curves.[24]

The section of K-51 from Rolla northeast to Hugoton, originally overlapped K-45. In the early 1950s, towns along the K-45 corridor, connecting Ellsworth, Kansas to the Oklahoma state line at Elkhart, formed the Mid-Continent Diagonal Highway Association[25] to push for a new highway from Springer, New Mexico (on US-85) northeast across the Oklahoma Panhandle, along K-45, and continuing to Manitowoc, Wisconsin on Lake Michigan.[26] By mid-1954, it was being promoted as US-55 between the Great Lakes and the Southwestern United States.[27] The first submissions to the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) to establish the route were made in 1954. The first route considered in northeast Kansas was via US-40 from Ellsworth to Topeka and K-4 and US-59 via Atchison to St. Joseph, Missouri.[28] A revised route adopted in March 1955, due to AASHO objections to the original route, which traveled concurrently with other U.S. highways for over half of its length, followed K-14, K-18, US-24, K-63, K-16, and US-59 via Lincoln and Manhattan.[29] In July, the US-50N Association proposed a plan that would have eliminated US-50N by routing US-55 along most of its length, from Larned east to Baldwin Junction, and then along US 59 to Lawrence and K-10 to Kansas City; towns on US-50N west of Larned, which would have been bypassed, led a successful fight against this.[30][31] However, in September of that year, the Kansas Highway Commission accepted that plan, taking US-55 east to Kansas City.[32] On June 27, 1956, the AASHO Route Numbering Committee considered this refined plan for US-55, between Springer, New Mexico and Kansas City, Missouri, with a short US-155 along the remaining portion of US-50N from Larned west to Garden City. The committee approved the request, but since the proposed route was more east–west than north–south, it changed it to an even number – US-56 – and the spur to US-156. At this time, K-45 became known as US-56.[33]