State Route 2 and 16 in Kansas

State Route 2 in Kansas

SR-2
Begin Hardtner
End Norwich
Length 55 mi
Length 88 km
Route
Kiowa

Hazelton

Anthony

Harper

State Route 2, also known as K-2 is a state route in the U.S. state of Kansas. The road forms an east-west route through the south of the state, from near Hardtner to near Norwich. K-2 is 88 kilometers long.

  • SEARCHFORPUBLICSCHOOLS: Provides a list of all public primary and high schools in Kansas, including street address, contact phone, and zip code for each school.

Travel directions

Halfway through Hartdner and Kiowa, K-2 turns off US 281 and heads east for 7 kilometers to the village of Kiowa, a short distance parallel to the Oklahoma state border. Then the road continues for 20 kilometers northeast, followed by 26 kilometers east to the village of Anthony. The road leads through flat rural areas, the typical High Plains. From Anthony, the road heads 15 miles north to Harper, briefly double-numbering US 160. From Harper, the road continues north-east for another 29 kilometers and ends near Norwich on K-42.

  • USPRIVATESCHOOLSFINDER.COM: Provides a list of all private primary and elementary schools in Kansas, including street address, contact phone, and zip code for each school.

History

The original K-2 ran east-west through western Kansas, from the Colorado state border to Norton, on what is now US 36. This route of K-2 existed between 1926 and 1931.

The later K-2 did not exist as a road in the early 1930s. There was talk of a grid and the diagonally extending parts were only constructed later. K-14 originally ran between Kiowa and Anthony/Harper. In the mid 1930s, the diagonal section northeast of Kiowa was constructed. This road was a dirt road and still numbered K-14. Around 1937 the diagonal section from Harper to Norwich was also constructed, also as an unpaved road, which, however, was numbered K-2. In the early 1940s, the section between Kiowa and Harper was asphalted, but still as K-14. Circa 1947-1948 the diagonal part from Harper to Norwich was asphalted. In the early 1950s, the K-2 was diverted at Norwich over an extension of the diagonal route to K-42.

The southwestern part of the route was numbered K-14 for a longer period of time. The road numbering was changed around 1963, K-2 then ran from the Oklahoma border at Kiowa to Wichita and had a fairly long double numbering with K-42. In 1977 the numbering was changed again, the western starting point was changed from the border with Oklahoma to US 281 between Hardtner and Kiowa, and the double numbering with K-42 east of Norwich was removed, creating the current route.

Traffic intensities

Between Kiowa and Anthony there are 700 to 1,000 vehicles per day and 4,000 to 4,700 vehicles on the north-south section between Anthony and Harper. From Harper to Norwich, 2,200 to 2,500 vehicles drove a day.

State Route 16 in Kansas

SR-16
Get started Randolph
End Tonganoxia
Length 110 mi
Length 177 km
Route
RandolphOlsburg

Fostoria

Blaine

Wheaton

onaga

Holton

Denison

Valley Falls

Winchester

Oskaloosa

McLouth

Tonganoxia

State Route 16, also known as K-16 is a state route in the U.S. state of Kansas. The road forms an east-west route through the northeast of the state, from Randolph to Tonganoxie. K-16 has a fairly long double numbering with US 59 and is 177 kilometers long.

Travel directions

State Highway 16 at Holton.

K-16 forms an east-west route that, by making a number of grid jumps, bends to the southeast. The road begins at the village of Randolph on US 77 and ends in Tonganoxie on US 40, about 20 miles west of Kansas City. The road only passes through small villages and is a single lane road everywhere. The road leads through rolling countryside with few real differences in height. The road passes several small villages and the road is double numbered with US 59. The road crosses numerous small rivers that are tributaries of the Kansas River flowing south.

History

K-16 originally existed between 1926 and 1936 as another route, between the Oklahoma border south of Coffeyville and US 73W at Chanute. This number was assigned following the connecting State Route 16 in Oklahoma. The route was later renumbered as US 169.

The current route was originally numbered K-24, which at the time began in Blaine on current K-99 and ran to US 73W north of Oskaloosa. When US 24 was extended into Kansas in 1936, K-24 had to be renumbered, and was then assigned the number K-16.

In 1936 K-16 was already largely a gravel road, at that time only the part that was double-numbered with US 59 was already paved, as was the easternmost part between McLouth and Tonganoxie. In the first half of the 1940’s, the entire eastern section was paved, from K-62 west of Holton to the terminus. West of it it was an improved gravel road. In the early 1950s the asphalt pavement was extended westwards to Onaga and in the mid-1950s the remaining part between Randolph and Onaga was asphalted.

The road was later straightened at a few points because it very literally followed the stair structure of the grid. The road has not been substantially upgraded because of its relatively low importance and low traffic volume.

Traffic intensities

The road usually handles 500 to 1,500 vehicles per day on the parts that are not double-numbered with the US 59.

State Route 16 in Kansas