K-26 is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

located entirely within

Cherokee County, Kansas Cherokee County (county code CK) is a U.S. county located in Southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 19,362. Its county seat is Columbus, and its most populous city is Baxter Springs. The latter became the first "cow ...

. It runs from an intersection with U.S. Route 166 (US-166) and US-400 northwest of the

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

north to K-66 in

Galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cryst ...

. The highway is maintained by the

Kansas Department of Transportation The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is a state government organization in charge of maintaining public roadways of the U.S. state of Kansas. Funding issues Since 2012, over $2 billion has been diverted from its coffers to the Kansas ...

(KDOT). The route was designated in 1937 on a roadway that ran from Crestline to the Missouri state line, but was moved to its current location via a series of route re-designations that took place over the following decades, assuming its current route in the mid-1980s.

Route description

K-26 begins at an intersection with US-166 and US-400 east of Baxter Springs. The roadway heads north through a wooded area, passing several farms. The route then crosses Shoal Creek and enters the city of Galena as Main Street. In Galena, K-26 reaches its northern terminus at K-66, which is also known as 7th Street. Main Street continues north of the intersection toward a

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

line. The route is maintained by KDOT, which is responsible for constructing and maintaining highways in the state. As part of this role, KDOT regularly surveys traffic on their highways. These surveys are most often presented in the form of

annual average daily traffic Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...

, which is a measurement of the number of vehicles that use a highway during an average day of the year. In 2010, KDOT calculated that a total of 3230 vehicles used the road daily, including 225 trucks. No part of the highway has been listed as part of the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the nation's defense, mobility, and economy.

History

K-26 was first designated in 1937 over the former eastern segment of K-34, a gravel road that ran from

K-96 K96 or K-96 may refer to: *K-96 (Kansas highway) K-96 is a state highway in central and southern Kansas. Its western terminus is at the Colorado state line east of Towner, Colorado, where it continues as Colorado State Highway 96; its east ...

and

US-69 U.S. Route 69 (US 69) is a major north–south United States highway. When it was first created, it was only long, but it has since been expanded into a Minnesota to Texas cross-country route. The highway's southern terminus (as well as ...

in Crestline east to the

state line. In 1941, K-26 and the easternmost portion of K-96 switch designations. After this, K-26 ran from

US-66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...

west of Galena north to K-96 and US-69. This roadway was paved when K-26 was designated along it. Between 1948 and 1953, the highway was extended east along US-66 to Galena and south from there to its current southern terminus at US-166. In the mid-1980s when US-66 was decommissioned, the portion of K-26 along it was re-signed as K-66 and the portion of the highway from US-66 to Crestline was designated as part of U.S. Route 69 Alternate (US-69 Alt). The original K-26 was designated in 1927 from US-81 to the

State Line. In 1932, it became part of

US 177 U.S. Route 177 (US-177) is a spur of U.S. Route 77. It currently runs for 233 miles (375 km) from South Haven, Kansas at US-81 to Madill, Oklahoma at US-70. It passes through the states of Kansas and Oklahoma. Route description Oklahoma ...

Major intersections

References

External links

{{AttachedKML, display=title,inline
Kansas Highways Routelog – K-26Kansas Department of Transportation State MapKDOT: Historic State Maps
026 Transportation in Cherokee County, Kansas