18th Street Expressway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 18th Street Expressway is a freeway in Kansas City, Kansas that runs from Interstate 35 north to Interstate 70/U.S. Route 40. It carries the U.S. Route 69 designation its entire length.
Contents |
[edit] 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, Kansas. It was the only one of the four studies to be followed upon, with completion of the bridge over the Kansas River completed in 1959. It replaced the Argentine Boulevard bridge over the river behind the modern-day BNSF railroad yard that brought K-58 over the river.
Upon completion of the bridge, US 69 was rerouted onto the expressway from Southwest Boulevard (whose particular section today is Merriam Drive).
In 1979, the K-58 designation disappeared from the expressway, upon its decommissioning. This left the southern leg of the expressway south of I-35 with no highway designation whatsoever.
Between 1988 and 1991, massive construction projects were undertaken to turn the expressway from I-35 to I-70 into a controlled-access freeway. A new bridge was completed over Turkey Creek and the Burlington Northern railroad tracks in 1988, to provide a 4-lane connection to Interstate 35, and new bridge was built over the Union Pacific railroad yard on the north end of the expressway in 1991. Both projects replaced older 2-lane bridges. The speed limit was then raised to 55 MPH, with the exception of within a half-mile of both interstates, where the limit drops to 45 MPH.
In 1996, extensive reconstruction was completed in Roeland Park, Kansas, where K-58 formerly traveled. As a result, the former Skyline Drive interchange was transformed into an at-grade intersection, also eliminating the Skyline tunnel underneath the expressway. When this was completed, Johnson County, Kansas renamed the segment from Shawnee Mission Parkway to I-35 as "Roe Boulevard", a continuation of "Roe Avenue" from Fairway, Kansas to I-35.
[edit] Highway Route
[edit] Current highways
U.S. Route 69 - Has always followed 18th Street Expressway since its completion from I-35 to I-70
[edit] Decommissioned highways
K-58 - Followed the 18th Street Expressway for its entire length at completion; decommissioned in 1979
[edit] Exit list
Italicized exits have been turned into at-grade intersections. The year this occurred is listed.
Northbound traffic (from former Shawnee Mission Parkway terminus):
- Johnson Drive west (2003)
Current expressway route begins
Interstate 35 north- Interstate 35/U.S. Route 69 south
- Steele Road
- Metropolitan Avenue/Ruby Avenue
K-32 west, Kansas Avenue
Interstate 70/U.S. Route 40 east/U.S. Route 69 north- Interstate 70/U.S. Route 40 west
Southbound traffic (from Interstate 70 terminus):
- K-32 west, Kansas Avenue
- Metropolitan Avenue/Ruby Avenue
- Steele Road
- Merriam Drive
- Interstate 35/U.S. Route 69 south
- Interstate 35 north
End of current expressway route
- 48th Street/Skyline Drive (1996)
- Johnson Drive west (2003)
U.S. Route 56 west/U.S. Route 169 south, Shawnee Mission Parkway west
