U.S. Route 24 (US-24) in the state of

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 th ...

runs east–west across the northern half of the state for . The route mostly connects rural communities across the

High Plains High Plains refers to one of two distinct land regions: * High Plains (United States), land region of the western Great Plains *High Plains (Australia) The High Plains of south-eastern Australia are a sub-region, or more strictly a string of adja ...

of Kansas, while also later providing an interstate alternate between

Topeka Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Uni ...

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, and Kansas City. US 24 both enters and exits the state running concurrently with

Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...

(I-70). Along with US 40, the road has largely been replaced by the more modern Interstate in its functionality as a long-distance route.

Route description

US-24 enters the state from

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

concurrent with

I-70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the c ...

southwest of

Kanorado, Kansas Kanorado is a city in Sherman County, Kansas, United States. The name is a portmanteau of Kansas and Colorado, because it is near the stateline. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 153. History The first post office in the ...

. For its first , the route runs concurrently with the Interstate, passing Goodland and Brewster. This is despite the fact that former alignment remains intact, albeit largely as a

local road The road hierarchy categorizes roads according to their functions and capacities. While sources differ on the exact nomenclature, the basic hierarchy comprises freeways, arterials, collectors, and local roads. Generally, the functional hierarch ...

. The exception to this rule is a business route through downtown Goodland. South-southwest of

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

, US-24 splits from the Interstate and begins heading northeastward before eastward and into Colby. The route passes through the northern side of town, intersecting

K-25 K-25 was the codename given by the Manhattan Project to the program to produce enriched uranium for atomic bombs using the gaseous diffusion method. Originally the codename for the product, over time it came to refer to the project, the prod ...

before continuing east. Towards the

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

– Sheridan county line, US 24 intersects US-83 in an extremely rural setting southeast of the town of

Gem A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

. The route continues through Sheridan,

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

, and

Rooks Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military *Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

counties, passing through the towns of Hoxie, Hill City, and Stockton and intersecting K-23, US-283, K-18, and US-183. US-24 also passes by several other smaller communities, such as Menlo and Morland, connecting to those towns via secondary

state highways 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 ...

. Additionally, the route passes around the northern edge of the

Webster Reservoir Webster Reservoir is a reservoir in Rooks County, Kansas, United States. Built and managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, it is used for flood control, irrigation, and recreation. Webster State Park is located on its shore. History Constru ...

in western Rooks County. In Osborne, the highway joins US-281 and begins heading northward. South of Portis, US-24 leaves US-281 and returns to an eastward trajectory, picking up a concurrency with K-9 in the process. The route passes through Downs and Cawker City, around Waconda Lake, and into Beloit. In Beloit, it junctions K-14, before K-9 splits toward the east as US-24 begins a southeastward run to Glasco, where it returns to an eastward trajectory. East of that town, the route crosses US-81 in another rural setting. US-24 continues through

Clay County Clay County is the name of 18 counties in the United States. Most are named for Henry Clay, U.S. Senator and statesman: * Clay County, Alabama * Clay County, Arkansas (named for John Clayton, and originally named Clayton County) * Clay County, Fl ...

and

Clay Center Clay Center can refer to a community in the United States: *Clay Center, Kansas *Clay Center, Nebraska *Clay Center, Ohio Clay Center is a village in Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The population was 262 at the 2020 census. History Clay ...

and into Riley County. Shortly after Leonardville, US-24 takes a sharp rightward turn before intersecting US-77 on the north side of Riley, returning to an eastward direction and running concurrently. The routes split shortly thereafter as US-24 begins heading southeast toward

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The route passes around the city to the northeast and east sides, before splitting away from town at K-177 and heading across the Big Blue River and into Pottawatomie County. US-24 runs across the southern edge of the county parallel to the

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...

, passing through

Wamego Wamego is a city in Pottawatomie County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,841. History Wamego was platted in 1866. It was named for a Potawatomi Native American chief. The first post office in ...

, Belvue, and St. Marys. Entering

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

, the county begins heading southeastward toward

via Rossville and

Silver Lake Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

. US-24 passes across the northern end of Topeka as a hybrid limited-access road, with four interchanges in and around the city, including ones with

US-75 U.S. Route 75 is a major north–south United States Numbered Highways, U.S. Highway that extends in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is in Noyes, Minnesota, at the Canada–United States border, Canadian border, wh ...

and K-4, with a short concurrency between interchanges with the last route. US-24 continues eastward, paralleling the Kansas River through Jefferson County, passing through Grantville and Perry, then picking up a concurrency with US-59 north of Williamstown. The routes then turn south toward

, with US-24 splitting to the east and gaining a concurrency with US-40 on the north side of the city as US-59 and US-40 west head south towards downtown. US-24/US-40 heads northeast toward Tonganoxie, where it turns east once again. On the Kansas City–

Bonner Springs Bonner Springs is a city in Wyandotte, Leavenworth, and Johnson counties, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,837. Bonner Springs was incorporated as ...

city line, the two routes intersect US-73 and K-7 at a cloverleaf interchange, where US-24/US-40 joins US-73/K-7 southward toward

and Bonner Springs. At I-70, US-24 and US-40 join the Interstate Highway eastward, while US-73 ends and K-7 continues southward into the core of Bonner Springs. US-24 continues with I-70 into Kansas City and across the Kansas River into Kansas City, Missouri.

History

When the

United States Numbered Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

was first instituted in 1926, much of what is now US-24 was designated as U.S. Route 40N (US-40N). US-40N ran along present-day US-24 between

Limon, Colorado Limon is a statutory town that is the most populous municipality in Lincoln County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,880 at the 2010 United States Census. Limon has been called the "Hub City" of Eastern Colorado because Interst ...

and

. At Manhattan, it and US-40S recombined into US-40, which used the present alignment of US-24 eastward toward

. Between Topeka and

, K-10 occupied the current alignment of US-24 as US-40 used its still standing alignment on the south side of the

. At Lawrence, US-40 returned to using US-24's alignment onto Kansas City and

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. In 1935, US-40N was decommissioned and US-24 was extended westward from its previous terminus at

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

across the state into

and eventually on to

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mo ...

(later reduced to

Minturn, Colorado Minturn is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,027 at the 2010 United States Census. Geography Minturn is located in southeastern Eagle County on the Eagle River between the resort comm ...

Major junctions

References

External links