U.S. Route 50 in Kansas

U.S. Highway 50
Route information
Maintained by KDOT
Length	447.93 mi (720.87 km)
Location
Country	United States
State	Kansas
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided Kansas State Highway System Interstate US State Spurs

U.S. Route 50 in Kansas is a main east-west highway serving the southwest, central and northeastern parts of the state. Kansas City is the only metropolitan area U.S. 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.

Cities along U.S. 50

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

Garden City has become an important meat-packing town as has Dodge City, 50 miles to the west. Dodge City is better known as the historic western town as depicted in many movies and the "Gunsmoke" television series.

U.S. 400 leaves U.S. 50 at Dodge City. U.S. 283 and U.S. 56 join east of Dodge City with 283 leaving shortly after. U.S. 56 leaves at Kinsley, which claims to be the midway point between New York and San Francisco, according to a sign near the west city limits. It seems to be an odd claim, considering U.S. 50 doesn't go through New York.

The next large town is Hutchinson, which is home of the Kansas State Fair. U.S. 50 has bypassed both Hutchinson and it's nearby neighbor, South Hutchinson. U.S. 50 once ran through Hutchinson on Fourth Street. Kansas Highways 61 and 96 both join U.S. 50 for short stretches near here.

U.S. 50 then heads to Newton, where it joins Interstate highway 135 for a short time before it angles northeasterly toward Emporia, another meat-packing town as well as the home of Emporia State University. U.S. 50 then joins I-35 and it overlaps that interstate for most of the rest of the way in Kansas.

U.S. 50, along with I-35, then passes through a place known as "BETO junction," which is where it meets U.S. 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.

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

The U.S. 50 split

U.S. 50 once had a split into two branch routes in Kansas. 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 U.S. 50 split began in Garden City and ended near Baldwin City. In Garden City, the split began at Kansas Avenue and Main Street. U.S. 50N continued west on Kansas Ave. and went through Jetmore, Larned, Great Bend, Lyons, McPherson and Baldwin City. U.S. 50S ran along current U.S. 50. The routes rejoined near what is now the intersection of U.S. 56 and Kansas Highway 33.

U.S. 50N was replaced by U.S. 156 from Garden City to Great Bend and U.S. 56 the rest of the way. U.S. 156 is now known as Kansas 156. The split was removed during the late 1930s.

Business routes and bypasses

U.S. 50 has two business routes in Kansas:

1) In Garden City. U.S. 50 and U.S. 83 each have business routes. They both start at the same place, at the junction of U.S. 50, 83 and 400 about one mile north of town. They run concurrently along the former alignments of U.S. 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 U.S. 50, 83 and 400 east of town.

2) In Dodge City, Business 50 follows former U.S. 50 through Dodge City.

U.S. 50 once had alternate routings in Garden City and Dodge City and a business route in Ottawa. Former Alternate 50 in Garden City is now known as Campus Drive. Its purpose was to connect U.S. 50 travelers to then-U.S. 156 without having to go all the way into downtown. It's purpose was taken over by Spur U.S. 83 in the 1970's. Spur U.S. 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 U.S. 50. Business 50 in Ottawa has been decommissioned. It ran along the former U.S. 50 alignment through Ottawa.

References

• route56.com [1]