K-44 is a

state highway 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 Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. It begins at K-2 in

Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...

and passes through

Harper Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name and place names, for example: Harper Islands, Nunavut. Places ;in Canada * Harper Islands, Nunavut * Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name ...

and

Sumner Sumner may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica * Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica Australia * Sumner, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane New Zealand * Sumner, New Zealand, a seasi ...

counties in the south-central portion of the state, ending at K-49 north of

Caldwell Caldwell may refer to: People * Caldwell (surname) * Caldwell (given name) * Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized First Nation in southern Ontario, Canada Places Great Britain * Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet * Caldwell, Ea ...

. The highway is long, and it was designated around 1932. Its alignment has not undergone a major change since then.

Route description

K-44 begins at a junction with K-2 in

, the county seat of Harper County; within the city limits of Anthony, K-44 is known as Main Street. From its western terminus, the route heads east as a two-lane road, coming to another highway junction, the northern terminus of K-179, approximately east of K-2. K-44 then leaves Anthony, continuing east through hilly farmland in eastern Harper County, before crossing into Sumner County approximately east of Anthony. The highway crosses the

Chikaskia River The Chikaskia River (usually pronounced ''chi-KAS-kee-uh'' but often pronounced ''chi-KAS-kee'' in southern Kansas) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 tr ...

north of Caldwell. Just east of the river crossing, the route curves slightly to the southeast and comes to an intersection with K-49, where it ends. All but of K-44's alignment is maintained by the

Kansas Department of Transportation The Kansas Department of Transportation (KSDOT) is a state government organization in charge of maintaining public roadways of the U.S. state of Kansas. Funding issues Since 2012, over $2 billion has been diverted from its coffers to the Kans ...

(KDOT). The entire section within Anthony is maintained by the city. In 2013, KDOT measured traffic counts in terms of

average annual daily traffic Annual average daily traffic (AADT) is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transport engineering, transportation engineering and retail Location_intelligence, location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle tr ...

(AADT) on K-44 ranging from a high of 729 vehicles in Anthony to a low of 313 vehicles in western Sumner County.

History

K-44 first appeared on the 1927 Kansas state highway map. Its alignment when it was designated is identical to that which it follows today; however, the road was not yet paved. This did not happen until sometime between 1948 and 1950, and the highway has not been majorly modified since then.

Junction list

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
Kansas Highways Routelog—K-44
044 Transportation in Harper County, Kansas Transportation in Sumner County, Kansas