Kansas Turnpike
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by KTA | ||||
| Length: | 236 mi (380 km) | |||
| Existed: | October 1956 – present | |||
| Component highways: |
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| Major junctions | ||||
| South end: |
 I‑35 at the Oklahoma state line |
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| East end: |
    I-70 / US-24 / US-40 / US-69 in Kansas City
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| Highway system | ||||
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I-335 from Emporia to 
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| Location: | Emporia–Topeka |
| Length: | 50.13 mi (80.68 km) |
| Existed: | 1987–present |
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The Kansas Turnpike is a 236-mile-long (380 km), freeway-standard toll road that lies entirely within the U.S. state of Kansas. It runs in a general southwest–northeast direction from the Oklahoma border to Kansas City. It passes through several major Kansas cities, including Wichita, Topeka, and Lawrence. The turnpike is owned and maintained by the Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA), which is headquartered in Wichita.
The Kansas Turnpike was built from 1954 to 1956, predating the Interstate Highway System. While not part of the system's early plans, the turnpike was eventually incorporated into the Interstate system in late 1956, and is designated today as four different Interstate Highway routes: I-35, I-335, I-470, and I-70. The turnpike also carries a piece of U.S. Routes 24 and 40 in Kansas City.
Because it predates the Interstate Highway System, the road is not engineered to current Interstate Highway standards, and notably lacks a regulation-width median. To reduce the risk of head-on collisions, the Kansas Turnpike now has a continuous, permanent Jersey barrier in the median over its entire length. On opening, there was no fixed speed limit on the highway; drivers were merely asked to keep to a "reasonable and proper" limit, although shortly afterward signs were erected in certain stretches indicating a maximum speed of 80 miles per hour (130 km/h). From 1970 to 1974 and again since 2011, the turnpike's speed limit has been set at 75 mph (120 km/h); that limit during the earlier period applied only during daytime hours.
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Wikipedia