U.S. Route 283 in Kansas

US-283 enters from Oklahoma south of Englewood in Clark County, and passes through largely unpopulated areas of the county until joining up for a brief concurrency with U.S. Route 160. Following the split, US-283 continues north through Minneola before making its way into Dodge City, the only town with a population of more than 3,300 the highway passes through in the Sunflower State.

US-283 and US-56 approaching US-50 north of Dodge City

At Dodge City, US-283 jogs east. It meets with U.S. Route 400, but the two highways do not stay joined for long; US-400 splits and heads southeast towards Greensburg, while US-283 continues eastbound past the Dodge City Regional Airport. After passing the airport, the route then bends northeast before joining U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 56 for a brief stint.

US-50 and US-56 split east towards Kinsley, and US-283 resumes a due northerly course through open fields before reaching Jetmore, where K-156 crosses in an east–west direction. K-156 heads to Garden City westbound and Great Bend eastbound. The highway continues on another stretch through sparsely populated farmland before reaching Ness City and K-96, the first of two junctions in Ness County. The other junction in the county is at K-4 near Ransom. The highway reaches Interstate 70 in WaKeeney, and makes a brief jog east through downtown WaKeeney before turning back to the north. US-283 between Ransom and I-70 was closed for much of 2006 as part of a major reconstruction program.

The highway continues north to Hill City, where it crosses U.S. Route 24. The route stays on course until it reaches southern Norton County, where it has a brief concurrency with K-9. At the split, K-9 continues west to Lenora, and US-283 resumes a straight northerly direction until the city of Norton, where after crossing U.S. Route 36, it reaches Nebraska 11 miles (18 km) later.

With the exception of small sections in Dodge City, all portions of US-283 in Kansas are two-laned.

In 1927, the highway that would become US-283 was established as K-21 from the Oklahoma border north to the Nebraska border.[2] In 1933, US-281 was extended north from Oklahoma over K-21 to US-50S and US-154 in Dodge City.[5][6] By 1936, it had been extended further north to K-96 in Ness City along K-21.[6][7] Between July 1938 and 1940, US-283 was extended north to US-36, US-83 and US-183 in Norton.[8][9] In an August 7, 1941 resolution, a one mile (1.6 km) section of K-21 was realigned at the Nebraska border to eliminate two sharp curves.[10] Between 1941 and 1944, US-283 was extended north into Nebraska, resulting in K-21 being completely decommissioned.[3][4] Also between 1941 and 1945, US-83 and US-183 were swapped within Nebraska and a small portion into Kansas, which straightened their alignment and eliminated their overlap in Norton. The former alignment of US-83 from northeast of Selden to east of Woodruff became US-383.[3][4]

U.S. Route 283 Spur (US-283 Spur) was a spur route that existed in WaKeeney. It began at a diamond interchange with I-70 and US-40 exit 128, and traveled north and ended at US-283. US-283 Spur first appears on the 1963–1964 State Highway map.[19][20] In an April 1, 1981 resolution, US-283 Spur was redesignated as US-40 Business (US-40 Bus.) in WaKeeney.[14]

• Kansas Department of Transportation State Map
• KDOT: Historic State Maps