Interstate 70 (I-70) is a mainline route of the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...

in the United States connecting

Cove Fort, Utah Cove Fort is a fort, unincorporated community, and historical site located in Millard County, Utah. It was founded in 1867 by Ira Hinckley (the paternal grandfather of Gordon B. Hinckley) at the request of Brigham Young. One of its distincti ...

, to

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. In the US state of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, I-70 extends just over from the

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

border near the town of Kanorado to the Missouri border in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

. I-70 in Kansas contains the first segment in the country to start being paved and to be completed in the Interstate Highway System. The route passes through several of the state's principal cities in the process, including

Topeka Topeka ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeaste ...

, and Salina. The route also passes through the cities of Lawrence, Junction City, and Abilene. The section of I-70 from Topeka to the Missouri border is co-designated as the Kansas Turnpike; only the section between Topeka and just west of Kansas City is tolled.

Route description

I-70 runs concurrently with U.S. Highway 24 (US 24) from the Colorado state line until US 24 splits at

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

and runs north of I-70. At Colby, I-70 begins to turn southeast until it reaches Oakley, where US 40 joins with I-70 for a concurrent journey through most of the state. Initially, the route remains high and unusually level as it follows a projection of the High Plains into the state. From exit 140 (Riga Road), the route lowers from the High Plains into the Blue Hills region, as indicated by gentle undulations in the road and the unusual appearance of stone posts in the countryside. Approaching Russell, the route passes over three active sinkholes, the largest being the Crawford Sinkhole at mile 179. Past Russell, the route follows a ridge between the

Smoky Hill River The Smoky Hill River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, running through Colorado and Kansas. Names The Smoky Hill is named from the Smoky Hills region of north-central Kansas through which it flows. American Indians li ...

and its tributary, the Saline River, where the highway passes through the

Smoky Hills Wind Farm The Smoky Hills Wind Farm (Phase I & Phase II) is a 250 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Lincoln and Ellsworth Counties, 140 miles west of Topeka in Kansas, north of Ellsworth. The farm is operated by Enel Green Power. Highway K-14 and Interstate 70 ...

. Reaching the county line between Russell and Ellsworth counties, the road begins to traverse the

Smoky Hills The Smoky Hills are an upland region of hills in the central Great Plains of North America. They are located in the Midwestern United States, encompassing north-central Kansas and a small portion of south-central Nebraska. The hills are a diss ...

. At Salina, I-135 begins its journey southward toward Wichita, and I-70 continues through Abilene and Junction City, where the road begins to run through the Flint Hills. In

, I-70 intersects a child route, I-470, twice. The second time it is intersected, the Kansas Turnpike merges, making I-70 into a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

. This is one of only two sections of I-70 that are tolled (the other is along the

Pennsylvania Turnpike The Pennsylvania Turnpike, sometimes shortened to Penna Turnpike or PA Turnpike, is a controlled-access toll road which is operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in Pennsylvania. It runs for across the southern part of the st ...

); , the maximum toll on this section of I-70 is $3.50. I-70 and the turnpike are concurrent from Topeka to Bonner Springs, the turnpike's eastern terminus. From Bonner Springs to 18th Street and extending on to the Kansas eastern border, the highway is free. I-70 enters Missouri via a main northern route on the Lewis and Clark Viaduct above the confluence of the

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a meandering river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is potentially the southwestern most part of the Missouri River drainage, which is sometimes in turn the northwesternmost portion of ...

and

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

and a route designated "Alternate I-70" which has signs for I-70 as well as I-670 just south of Kansas City main downtown area. From exit 275 at Abilene to the Missouri state line, the road is named the

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

–

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

Presidential Highway. It retains the designation until exit 16 in Missouri at

Independence Independence is a condition of a 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 status of ...

, the location of Truman's presidential library.

History

The section of I-70 that is now the Kansas Turnpike was finished by 1956 and opened to traffic. West of Topeka, the freeway was constructed from Topeka west to Salina at its junction with US 81, as well as from Ogallah to Grainfield. From Salina, the freeway was completed through Wilson the next year. On October 9, 1959, the section of I-70 opened from Junction City west to Abilene through a ribbon-cutting ceremony. A segment of I-70 from

through Ogallah was finished by 1965. Another section was built the following year connecting Wilson to Grainfield. The freeway was completed through Kansas with a last section near the

border in 1970.

Exit list

Exit numbers correspond to the mileposts where they are located (numbered east from the Colorado border), except for those between Topeka and Kansas City, which are part of the Kansas Turnpike and use its mileposts (numbered nominally north from the Oklahoma border) instead.

Auxiliary routes

I-70 has two auxiliary routes in Kansas. I-470 is a loop around the southern side of Topeka that is signed as the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Highway and overlaps the Kansas Turnpike on the southeast side of town. I-670 is an alternate route for I-70 travelers through downtown Kansas City that is signed as the Dillingham Freeway and as Alternate I-70.

References

External links

* Kansas Highway Maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT * - video of the