U.S. Route 75 in Kansas

U.S. Highway 75
U.S. Highway 75
	US 75 highlighted in red
Route information
	Maintained by KDOT
Existed	1926–present
Major junctions
South end	US 75 near Caney
	I-35 / US-50 near Melvern; I-335 / I-470 / Kansas Turnpike in Topeka; I-70 / US-40 / K-4 in Topeka;
North end	US 75 near Sabetha
Location
Counties	Montgomery, Wilson, Woodson, Coffey, Osage, Shawnee, Jackson, Brown, Nemaha
Highway system

U.S. Route 75 (US-75) is a north–south U.S. Highway stretching from Kittson County, Minnesota to Dallas, Texas. In Kansas, the highway runs from south to north through the eastern part of the state. It enters the state from Oklahoma near Caney and runs north, serving the state capitol of Topeka. The highway continues north of Topeka, passing by the Potawatomi and Kickapoo Indian reservation, and passes over the Nebraska state line near Sabetha.

Route description[]

US-75 enters Kansas from Oklahoma near Caney and almost immediately starts an overlap with US-166. The highways split about 4 miles north of the state line. South of Neodesha, US-75 overlaps with US-400 as a 2 lane freeway.

At Interstate 35 (I-35), US-75 becomes a two-lane expressway again, passing east of Melvern Lake. About 15 miles south of Topeka, the highway becomes a four lane freeway. US-75 crosses the Kansas Turnpike without any direct access and drivers must use I-470 to access the turnpike. US 75 runs around the main part of the city along I-470 and I-70.

Leaving Topeka, US-75 becomes its own route again. Between Hoyt and Holton, the highway runs along the eastern border of the Potawatomi Indian Reservation. A few miles to the north, the highway runs west of the Kickapoo Reservation. North of Sabetha, US-75 exits the state into Nebraska.

History[]

The junction with K-268 and K-31 was formally a four-way intersection. From January 2004 to August 2009, there was a total of 24 crashes, which included one fatality and fifteen that resulted in injuries. Residents of the surrounding communities requested a "safer type of intersection", then in late Fall of 2013, work began to reconstruct the intersection as a roundabout.^[1]^[2] On November 17, 2014, the new roundabout at the eastern terminus opened to unrestricted traffic. The project was fully completed by the end of December. Smoky Hill LLC from Salina, was the primary contractor on the $2.541 million roundabout project.^[3] On August 9, 2018, a tractor-trailer travelling southbound on US-75 crashed into the roundabout. The trucks fuel tank was damaged and spilled about 70 gallons of diesel fuel. K-31 and US-75 traffic was reduced to one lane for about four hours after the crash.^[4]

Junction list[]

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Montgomery	Caney	0.00	0.00	US 75 south	Continuation into Oklahoma
	Caney			US-166 east – Coffeyville, Joplin	South end of US 166 overlap
				US-166 west – Sedan	North end of US 166 overlap
				US-160 west – Elk City	South end of US 160 overlap
	Independence			US-160 east – Oswego	North end of US 160 overlap
				US-400 east – Parsons	South end of US 400 overlap; south end of expressway
Wilson	Neodesha			US-400 west – Fredonia	North end of US 400 overlap; north end of expressway
	Altoona			US 75 Bus. north – Altoona
				K-47 – Fredonia, Girard
				US 75 Bus. south – Altoona
				K-39 east – Chanute	South end of K-39 overlap
				K-39 west – Benedict	North end of K-39 overlap
Woodson	Yates Center			US-54 – Eureka, Iola
Coffey				K-58 east – Colony	South end of K-58 overlap
				K-58 west – Madison	North end of K-58 overlap
				I-35 / US-50 – Emporia, Wichita, Kansas City	I-35 exit 155. South end of Super 2
Osage				Township Road
				K-276 west – Olivet
				K-31 south – Melvern	North end of Super-2. South end of concurrency with K-31
				K-278 west – Eisenhower State Park
	Lyndon			K-68 east – Ottawa	Western terminus of K-68
				K-31 north / K-268 east – Osage City, Ottawa	Roundabout; north end of concurrency with K-31; western terminus of K-268
				US-56 – Burlingame, Baldwin City	South end of freeway. US-56 also serves Scranton and Overbrook.
	Carbondale			Main Street, E. 137th Street	Exit signed simply as "Carbondale"
Shawnee				Topeka Boulevard	Former US 75 Alt.
				Gary Ormsby Drive, SW 77th Street – Topeka Regional Airport
				SW 57th Street
	Topeka			I-470 east to I-335 (Kansas Turnpike) – Wichita, Kansas City	South end of I-470 overlap; I-470 exit 5
		See I-470
				I-470 end / I-70 / US-40 / K-4 west – Salina	North end of I-470 overlap; south end of I-70/US-40/K-4 overlap; I-470 exit 1A, I-70 exit 355
		See I-70
				I-70 / US-40 / K-4 east – Lawrence, Kansas City	North end of I-70/US 40/K-4 overlap; I-70 exit 358 eastbound, 358A westbound.
	North Topeka			NW Lower Silver Lake Road, NW 17th Street
				US-24 – Manhattan, Lawrence
				NW 35th Street	North end of freeway
Jackson				K-214 north (110th Road) – Hoyt	Clockwise terminus of K-214
				K-214 south (118th Road) – Hoyt	Counterclockwise terminus of K-214
				150th Road	Interchange
	Holton			K-116 east / K-16 (4th Street) – Onaga, Valley Falls
				K-9 – Wetmore, Netawaka
Brown				K-20 east – Horton, Kickapoo Reservation
	Fairview			US-36 – Seneca, Hiawatha	Interchange
	Sabetha			Main Street, 270th Street	Interchange
Nemaha	Sabetha			K-246 – Sabetha
Nemaha				US 75 north	Continuation into Nebraska
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus