K-33 (Kansas highway)

Prior to the formation of the Kansas state highway system, there were auto trails, which were an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. The majority of K-33's route closely follows the former New Santa Fe Trail which ran from Kansas City to the Los Angeles area;[11][12] the King of Trails, which ran from Galveston and San Antonio north to Winnipeg;[13] and the Ozark Trail.[11]

K-33 was first designated a state highway in 1926 by the Kansas State Highway Commission (SHC), and at that time ran from US-75 and US-250 by Waverly northeastward to Ottawa then east to the Missouri border.[2] By 1927, US-250 had been renumbered US-50S, and K-33 was realigned to travel north to Wellsville, then northeastward to US-50 in Edgerton.[14] The year after, K-33 was realigned to intersect K-31 east of Waverly then follow the latter west to US-50S.[15] In 1934, US-50S was realigned to follow K-33 from west of Waverly to Ottawa, and K-68 was extended west on the old US-50S alignment from Ottawa to US-75 by Lyndon. Also at this time, the northern terminus of K-33 was realigned to end at US-50 west of Edgerton.[16][17] By 1936, K-33 was truncated to end at US-50S and US-73 in Ottawa.[17][18] On June 27, 1956, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHO) Route Numbering Committee approved US-56 to be created. US-56 was routed over US-50 from Kansas City westward to US-59 then followed US-50N, which was eliminated. At the same time US-50S was renumbered to US-50.[19]

In August 1956, the SHC filed a land condemnation suit in court for improvements to be made to K-33 by Wellsville. The proposed project was for widening the highway from southwest of Wellsville north to the Franklin County line and replacing the obsolete wooden bridge over the Santa Fe railroad tracks with a concrete structure.[20] The next month, a hearing was conducted in Wellsville about the project.[21] On January 2, 1957, K-33 was closed south of Wellsville to begin construction of the overpass over the railroad tracks.[22] In March 1957, work began on installing the bridge footings for the overpass.[23] By August, all concrete work was complete on the overpass, with only grading on each end of the bridge needed to be done.[24] During construction on the new bridge and grading, traffic was detoured along Main Street in Wellsville.[25]

In a resolution on February 27, 1957, a new alignment of US-50 was approved between Ottawa and Olathe.[26] The project was also to be part of the newly established Interstate Highway System and was estimated to cost $17 million.[27] By December, the SHC accepted bids to pave the new section of highway.[28] The new 14-mile-long (23 km) section of highway was opened in December 1958, with a ribbon cutting ceremony. At this time the northern terminus became solely US-56.[29] In 1969, the overlap with K-68 was eliminated and K-33 was truncated to its current southern terminus.[30][31]