§ 68-406 — Designation of highways in state system; total mileage, exclusions; revision and classification; connecting links and detours; direct routes to certain facilities and institutions; roads in state parks; posting speed limits and establishing facilities on certain streets and roads; temporary road closings

(a) The secretary of transportation shall designate, adopt and establish and may lay out, open, relocate, alter, vacate, remove, redesignate and reestablish highways in every county in the state, the total mileage of which shall not exceed 10,000 miles. The total mileage of such highways in each county shall be not less than the sum of the north to south and east to west diameters of the county. The highways so designated shall connect the county seats and principal cities and market centers, and all such highways, including bridges and culverts thereon, shall comprise the state highway system. The secretary of transportation shall make such revisions, classifications or reclassifications in the state highway system as are found on the basis of engineering and traffic study to be necessary, and such revisions, classifications or reclassifications may include, after due public hearing, removal from the system of roads that have little or no statewide significance, and the addition of roads that have statewide importance and will provide relief for traffic congestion on existing routes on the system. All roads that have been placed upon the state highway system shall be a part of the state highway system, but changes may be made in the state highway system when the public safety, convenience, economy, classification or reclassification requires such change. The total mileage of the state highway system shall not be extended except by act of the legislature. Highways designated under this section shall be state highways, and all other highways outside of the city limits of cities shall be either county roads or township roads as provided for by law. The state highway system thus designated shall be constructed, improved, reconstructed and maintained by the secretary of transportation from funds provided by law.
(b) In addition to highways of the state highway system, the secretary of transportation shall designate in those cities on such system certain streets as city connecting links. "City connecting link" means a routing inside the city limits of a city that:
(1) Connects a state highway through a city;
(2) connects a state highway to a city connecting link of another state highway;
(3) is a state highway that terminates within such city;
(4) connects a state highway with a road or highway under the jurisdiction of the Kansas turnpike authority; or
(5) begins and ends within a city's limits and is designated as part of the national system of interstate and defense highways.
(c) The secretary of transportation may mark and maintain existing roads as detours, but detour roads shall not be a part of the state highway system, except that such roads shall be marked and maintained by the secretary of transportation only until that portion of the state highway system for which such road is substituted is completed and open for travel.
(d) The secretary of transportation may use moneys appropriated from the state highway fund for the purchase of right-of-way, construction, improvement, reconstruction and maintenance of a highway over the most direct and practicable routes from state highways to a state lake, a federal lake or reservoir established by federal authority, any property managed or controlled by the Kansas department of wildlife and parks, national monuments and national historical sites, military reservations, motor carrier inspection stations, approaches and connections within an urban area, as defined by federal highway laws, places of major scenic attractions which possess unusual historical interest, as defined by K.S.A. 76-2018(1) and (2), and amendments thereto, on which the state now holds or may hereafter hold a long-term lease, a state institution, from the city limits of the nearest city to a state institution, a state-owned natural and scientific preserve, as defined by K.S.A. 74-6603(b), and amendments thereto, or such road or roads located within the boundaries of a state park and not presently maintained by a federal agency as shall be designated by the secretary of transportation. Such highways or roads shall not be a part of the state highway system, and the secretary of transportation is not required to plan, design or construct such highways or roads in conformity with the standards applicable to the state highway system.
(e) The secretary of transportation may make reroutings of any portion of the state highway system if such rerouting is required in writing by the United States department of transportation of the federal highway administration before it will permit federal funds to be used thereon. The secretary of transportation shall have control and regulation for purposes of posting speed limits and establishing access and egress facilities on any and all portions of streets and roads that are, or have been, a part of the state highway system, and that have been or may be, placed inside of the limits of an incorporated city by the creation of a new municipality or by the extension of the limits or boundaries of any existing municipality.
(f) Except pursuant to article 21 of chapter 68 of Kansas Statutes Annotated, and amendments thereto, only the secretary of transportation may authorize temporary closing of any part of the state highway system by any person for any purpose in the interest of the state. Every authorization granted under this subsection shall be granted subject to conditions specified by the secretary to provide for:
(1) Proper detours, signing and markings;
(2) timing that will not unreasonably inconvenience the public; and
(3) such additional conditions as are appropriate to avoid unreasonable risk of injury to any person. Such requests shall be made in writing and submitted to the secretary at least five days prior to the closing date. In emergencies, temporary closing may be authorized by the secretary by oral communications. The secretary may waive all or any part of the notice otherwise required by this subsection.
(g) Except as provided in subsection (h), any person failing or neglecting to comply with the provisions of this subsection, upon conviction, shall be guilty of a nonperson unclassified misdemeanor.
(h) In cases of sudden emergency, temporary closing of any part of the state highway system may be authorized by order of a person designated by the board of county commissioners for an area outside of any city or a person designated by the governing body of a city for an area within such city. In such cases of sudden emergency the person authorizing such closing shall inform the secretary of transportation thereof as soon as practicable and obtain the authorization of the secretary for any additional time thereafter for such closing.

Legislative History

L. 1927, ch. 255, § 6; L. 1929, ch. 225, § 3; L. 1933, ch. 97, § 1 (Special Session); L. 1935, ch. 245, § 1; L. 1937, ch. 285, § 1; L. 1949, ch. 344, § 1; L. 1953, ch. 300, § 1; L. 1961, ch. 302, § 1; L. 1972, ch. 245, § 1; L. 1975, ch. 350, § 1; L. 1975, ch. 427, § 85; L. 1978, ch. 271, § 3; L. 1981, ch. 263, § 1; L. 1984, ch. 251, § 1; L. 1984, ch. 293, § 6; L. 1984, ch. 252, § 1; L. 1988, ch. 269, § 1; L. 1989, ch. 118, § 179; L. 1993, ch. 124, § 1; L. 2012, ch. 47, § 89; L. 2023, ch. 7, § 115; July 1.