K-10 (Kansas highway)

K-10
Route information
Maintained by KDOT
Length:	38 mi (61 km)
Major junctions
West end:	I-70 / Kansas Turnpike in Lawrence
	US-40 in Lawrence US-59 in Lawrence K-7 near Lenexa
East end:	I-435 in Lenexa
Location
Counties:	Douglas, Johnson
Highway system
Kansas numbered highways ← K-9 K-11 →

K-10 is a 38-mile (61 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 controversial TV-movie The Day After were filmed on the highway in 1982 portraying a mass exodus evacuating the Kansas City area on I-70.

Route description

The highway's western end begins as a two lane highway at I-70 exit 197 just west of Lawrence. It partially bypasses the city to the south to U.S. Route 59, providing access to Clinton Lake. K-10 turns north on US-59 for about 1½ miles (overlapping it) before turning east on 23rd Street. After exiting Lawrence east-bound, it becomes a freeway, passing 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 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. 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 DeSoto 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

The bypass of the west side of Lawrence (the South Lawrence Trafficway) 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 two decades by lawsuits from environmentalist groups and Haskell University, as the planned route takes the highway through the Haskell-Baker Wetlands. The initial studies by the Kansas Department of Transportation that determined the necessity of the Trafficway was necessary were completed in the 1970s, but the lawsuits delayed the project for more than thirty years. In 2014, the lawsuits ended and construction began. The Kansas Department of Transportation has a plan in place for the alignment of the Trafficway. Construction began in March 2014 and is expected to be completed by Fall 2016.

Junction list

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Douglas	​			I-70 / Kansas Turnpike – Topeka, Kansas City	I-70 exit 197. Western terminus of K-10; roadway continues to CR-438 (N 1800 Road) to provide access to Lecompton.
	​			US-40 – Topeka, Lawrence	Interchange
	Lawrence			Bob Billings Parkway; N 1500 Road	Diamond interchange, opened December 2015
				Clinton Parkway	Interchange
				Wakarusa Drive, 27th Street	At-grade intersection
				Kasold Drive, E 1200 Road	At-grade intersection
				US-59 south – Ottawa	West end of US 59 concurrency
				US-59 north – Lawrence	East end of US 59 concurrency
	​			CR-442 (E 1750 Road/Noria Road)	At-grade intersection; western terminus of CR 442 (Old K-10)
	​			CR-1057 (E 1900 Road)	West end of freeway
	Eudora			CR-1061 (Church Street; E 2200 Road) – Eudora
				CR-442 (N 1400 Road)	Old K-10
Johnson	​			Evening Star Road
	​			Edgerton Road
	DeSoto			Lexington Avenue	Former alignment of K-10; designated as K-285 until its decommissioning in 1993
				Kill Creek Road
	​			Cedar Creek Parkway
	Lenexa– Olathe			K-7 – Bonner Springs, Olathe
				Woodland Road
				Ridgeview Road	Diverging diamond interchange; existing interchange converted July 2015
				Renner Boulevard
	Lenexa			I-435	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance. Exiting traffic can go eastbound or northbound on I-435, exit 1B. Eastern terminus of K-10.
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

External links

1. K-10 at route56.com
2. K-10 exit guide at OKRoads