Kansas Turnpike

May this Road's Angels blessedly fulfill
The inmost hope of travelers of good will.
May those who seek Love, find; those Knowledge learn.
To all, gay going-forth and glad return.
~British poet laureate, John Masefield
(written for the opening of the Kansas Turnpike in 1956)

Thousands travel the Kansas Turnpike each day. 236 miles long, it angles across eastern Kansas from Kansas City southwest to the Oklahoma state line south of Wellington.

Statistically the Turnpike is a very busy stretch of highway. Within a year over 32 million vehicles drive on some part of the tollway traveling about 1.4 billion miles. 2008 toll revenues brought in $78,436,779. When the Turnpike was opened to traffic, there were 14 interchanges. The newest interchange, Tonganoxie/Eudora, opened in late 2009 which brings the current total to 22 interchanges.

Below are links to resources on the Kansas Turnpike, past, present and future plans.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Kansas Turnpike Authority
http://ksturnpike.com/index.shtml
(The agency which oversees the operations and development of the Turnpike. The Kansas Turnpike Authority is charged with maintaining and improving the roadway and its function as a vital corridor to move people and goods in Kansas.)
---Tolls
---Toll chart
---Turnpike Authority Board members
---Annual reports
---Q&A About the Kansas Turnpike
---Turnpike News

Turnpike Conditions
---Weather

Why a Toll Road? Toll Roads and Transportation Funding
---Bridging the Transportation Funding Gap
---Role for Tolls In Meeting Transportation Needs in Kansas
---Q&A on Toll Roads in Kansas

"Turnpike 2.0"....
Kansas Turnpike Twitter
http://twitter.com/KansasTurnpike

HISTORY
The Kansas Turnpike
http://www.kansasbookfestival.ks.gov/portraits/kansas_turnpike.htm
(Kansas State Historical Society)

History of the Kansas Turnpike
http://ksturnpike.com/history.shtml

Kansas Turnpike (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_Turnpike

Tornado on the Turnpike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McyGeJ4BeVg&feature=fvw
(Well known video of a tornado bearing down on travelers on the Kansas Turnpike)

AND FINALLY... the Bizarre
In Stephen King's book, The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, a group called the ka-tet leave Topeka traveling the Kansas Turnpike which is a part of the "Path of the Beam" in an alternative version of the U.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_&_Glass
(We thank an anonymous reference librarian at the State Library of Kansas for this information and wonder if the travelers paid the toll!)

Article contact: Bill Sowers
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