18th Street Expressway

Infobox road
marker_

highway_name=18th Street Expressway
maint=KDOT
length_mi=
direction_a=South
direction_b=North
terminus_a=
terminus_b= in Kansas City

The 18th Street Expressway (often shortened to 18th Street in everyday speech) 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.

Route description

Exit 232B from Interstate 35 is a diamond interchange with traffic lights north of the Johnson County line, just inside Kansas City. This diamond interchange serves as the northern terminus of Roe Boulevard from Roeland Park, as well as the southern terminus of the 18th Street Expressway. US-69 northbound leaves I-35 northbound at this interchange, turning north to travel along the expressway. The expressway bridges the BNSF rail line as well as Merriam Lane, and has a partial diamond interchange with the latter (the ramps from Merriam to southbound 18th Street and from northbound 18th Street to Merriam are omitted due to the proximity of the I-35 interchange).

18th Street continues northward through Kansas City, with exits at Steele Road and Ruby Avenue, a residential street (this second interchange, a parclo interchange, also serves Metropolitan Avenue, a more major arterial.) The freeway then crosses the Kansas River and the east end of the BNSF rail yard on the 18th Street Expressway Bridge. After coming off the bridge, the freeway meets the eastern terminus of K-32, which runs along Kansas Avenue. K-32 is the only other numbered route that 18th Street Expressway intersects aside from those at its termini. The K-32/Kansas Avenue interchange is also of the parclo design.

North of the K-32 interchange, 18th Street passes over another rail yard, this one belonging to Union Pacific. On the northern edge of this rail yard lies I-70. 18th Street provides access to this highway via a traditional cloverleaf interchange. This interchange, Exits 420A–B from I-70, also serves as the official eastern terminus of the Kansas Turnpike, though the actual tolled section ends convert|10|mi|km further west. The expressway ends at I-70, with northbound US-69 joining I-70 eastbound in a concurrency. North of this interchange, the mainline drops the word "Expressway" from its title to become 18th Street. It continues north as a typical urban arterial.

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. It was the only one of the four studies to be followed upon, with completion of the 18th Street Expressway Bridge over the Kansas River completed in 1959.cite book
last = Lamb
first = Sherry
coauthors = Dr. Theodore A. Wilson
title = Milestones: A History of the Kansas Highway Commission and the Department of Transportation
publisher = Kansas Department of Transportation
date = 1986
pages = pp. 4-19 to 4-20
month = December ] It replaced the Argentine Boulevard bridge over the river behind the modern-day BNSF railroad yard.

Originally, the highway was part of the original K-58.cite map|publisher=Texaco|cartography=H.M. Gousha|title=Kansas|edition=1974|inset=Kansas City] Upon completion of the bridge, US-69 was rerouted onto the expressway from Southwest Boulevard (the section of which has since been renamed to Merriam Drive). In 1979,Fact|date=March 2008 the K-58 designation was removed.

The section of 18th Street between I-70 and the south end of the Kansas River bridge was tolled at least as late as 1984.cite map|publisher=Rand McNally|title=Road Atlas and Travel Guide|year=1984|inset=Kansas City|page=71]

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 BNSF 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 two-lane bridges. The speed limit was then raised to 55 MPH, with the exception of within a half-mile (0.8 km) of both interstates, where the limit drops to 45 MPH.

Exit list

The entire route is in Kansas City, Wyandotte County. All exits are unnumbered.

References