18th Street Expressway

Last updated

US 69.svg

18th Street Expressway
Major junctions
South endI-35.svgUS 69.svg I-35 / US-69 south in Kansas City
 K-32.svg K-32 in Kansas City
North endI-70.svgUS 24.svgUS 40.svgUS 69.svg I-70 / US-24 / US-40 / US-69 north in Kansas City
Highway system
  • Kansas State Highway System

The 18th Street Expressway (often shortened to 18th Street in everyday speech) is a freeway in Kansas City, Kansas that runs from Interstate 35 north to Interstate 70/U.S. Route 24/U.S. Route 40. It carries the U.S. Route 69 designation its entire length.

Kansas City, Kansas City and County seat in Kansas, United States

Kansas City is the third-largest city in the State of Kansas, the county seat of Wyandotte County, and the third-largest city of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Kansas City, Kansas is abbreviated as "KCK" to differentiate it from Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. It is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified Government". Wyandotte County also includes the independent cities of Bonner Springs and Edwardsville. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 145,786 residents. It is situated at Kaw Point, which is the junction of the Missouri and Kansas rivers.

Contents

Route description

Exit 232B from Interstate 35 is a diamond interchange with traffic lights north of the Johnson County line, just inside Kansas City. This diamond interchange serves as the northern terminus of Roe Boulevard from Roeland Park, as well as the southern terminus of the 18th Street Expressway. US-69 northbound leaves I-35 northbound at this interchange, turning north to travel along the expressway. The expressway bridges the BNSF rail line as well as Merriam Lane, and has a partial diamond interchange with the latter (the ramps from Merriam to southbound 18th Street and from northbound 18th Street to Merriam are omitted due to the proximity of the I-35 interchange).

Diamond interchange common type of road junction

A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a freeway crosses a minor road.

Traffic light signalling device to control competing flows of traffic

Traffic lights, also known as traffic signals, traffic lamps, traffic semaphore, signal lights, stop lights, robots, and traffic control signals, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations to control flows of traffic.

Johnson County, Kansas County in the United States

Johnson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Largely suburban, its proximity to Kansas City, Missouri has led to population growth within the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 544,179, making it the most populous county in Kansas. Its county seat is Olathe, and its most populous city is Overland Park.

18th Street continues northward through Kansas City, with exits at Steele Road and Ruby Avenue, a residential street (this second interchange, a parclo interchange, also serves Metropolitan Avenue, a more major arterial.) The freeway then crosses the Kansas River and the east end of the BNSF rail yard on the 18th Street Expressway Bridge. After coming off the bridge, the freeway meets the eastern terminus of K-32, which runs along Kansas Avenue. K-32 is the only other numbered route that 18th Street Expressway intersects aside from those at its termini. The K-32/Kansas Avenue interchange is also of the parclo design.

Kansas River river in northeastern Kansas, United States

The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwestern-most part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwestern-most portion of the extensive Mississippi River drainage. Its two names both come from the Kanza (Kaw) people who once inhabited the area; Kansas was one of the anglicizations of the French transcription Cansez of the original kką:ze. The city of Kansas City, Missouri, was named for the river, as was later the state of Kansas.

The 18th Street Expressway Bridge is a one level deck truss, four lane crossing of the Kansas River in Kansas City, Kansas. It was built in 1959, to replace the Argentine Bridge to the west. It also rises above the BNSF railroad tracks. It was damaged in 2000, after a BNSF train derailed and destroyed one of the piers, which caused the south approach span to buckle, and disabled it for several months while it was being repaired.

K-32 is an approximately 35-mile (56 km) state highway that runs from Lawrence to Kansas City in the U.S. state of Kansas, generally paralleling the course of the Kansas River. Its western terminus is just outside Lawrence at US-24/US-40. Its eastern terminus is in Kansas City at US-69.

North of the K-32 interchange, 18th Street passes over another rail yard, this one belonging to Union Pacific. On the northern edge of this rail yard lies I-70. 18th Street provides access to this highway via a traditional cloverleaf interchange. This interchange, Exits 420A–B from I-70, also serves as the official eastern terminus of the Kansas Turnpike, though the actual tolled section ends 10 miles (16 km) further west. The expressway ends at I-70, with northbound US-69 joining I-70 eastbound in a concurrency. North of this interchange, the mainline drops the word "Expressway" from its title to become 18th Street. It continues north as a typical urban arterial.

Cloverleaf interchange type of road interchange

A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which left turns are handled by ramp roads. To go left, vehicles first continue as one road passes over or under the other, then exit right onto a one-way three-fourths loop ramp (270°) and merge onto the intersecting road. The objective of a cloverleaf is to allow two highways to cross without the need for any traffic to be stopped by red lights, even for left and right turns. The limiting factor in the capacity of a cloverleaf interchange is traffic weaving.

The Kansas Turnpike is a 236-mile-long (380 km), freeway-standard toll road that lies entirely within the U.S. state of Kansas. It runs in a general southwest–northeast direction from the Oklahoma border to Kansas City. It passes through several major Kansas cities, including Wichita, Topeka, and Lawrence. The turnpike is owned and maintained by the Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA), which is headquartered in Wichita.

Concurrency (road) instance of one physical road bearing two or more different highways

A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concurrency includes overlap, coincidence, duplex, triplex, multiplex, dual routing or triple routing.

History

The 18th Street Expressway was the result of one of four feasibility studies conducted by the Kansas Turnpike Authority to extend the turnpike by providing easy access to northeast Johnson County. It was the only one of the four studies to be followed upon, with completion of the 18th Street Expressway Bridge over the Kansas River completed in 1959. [1] It replaced the Argentine Boulevard bridge over the river behind the modern-day BNSF railroad yard.

The Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA) is the organization that owns and maintains the Kansas Turnpike.

Originally, the highway was part of the original K-58. [2] Upon completion of the bridge, US-69 was rerouted onto the expressway from Southwest Boulevard (the section of which has since been renamed to Merriam Drive). In 1979,[ citation needed ] the K-58 designation was removed.

The section of 18th Street between I-70 and the south end of the Kansas River bridge was tolled at least as late as 1984. [3]

Exit list

The entire route is in Kansas City, Wyandotte County. All exits are unnumbered.

mikmDestinationsNotes
0.000.00I-35.svgUS 69.svg I-35 / US-69 south – Des Moines, Wichita Diamond interchange, ramps controlled by traffic signals on 18th Street. Road continues south as Roe Avenue.
0.000.00South end of freeway
Merriam LaneSouthbound exit and northbound entrance
Steele Road
Ruby Avenue, Metropolitan Avenue
K-32.svg K-32 (Kansas Avenue)
I-70.svgUS 24.svgUS 40.svgUS 69.svgKansas Turnpike.svg I-70 / US-24 / US-40 / US-69 north / Kansas Turnpike west – St. Louis, Topeka Road continues as 18th Street
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

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References

  1. Lamb, Sherry; Dr. Theodore A. Wilson (December 1986). Milestones: A History of the Kansas Highway Commission and the Department of Transportation. Kansas Department of Transportation. pp. 4–19 to 4–20.
  2. Kansas (Map) (1974 ed.). Cartography by H.M. Gousha. Texaco. Kansas City inset.
  3. Road Atlas and Travel Guide (Map). Rand McNally. 1984. p. 71. Kansas City inset.