K-51 (Kansas highway)

K-51
K-51 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by KDOT
Length	79.095 mi[3] (127.291 km)
History	Established in 1926;[1] became K-12 c. 1930; re-established as K-51 on January 7, 1937[2]
Major junctions
West end	CR M at the Colorado state line at Westola Township
Major intersections	US-56 from Rolla to Hugoton
East end	US-83 north of Liberal
Location
Country	United States
State	Kansas
Counties	Morton, Stevens, Seward
Highway system
Kansas State Highway System Interstate US State Spurs
← US-50 → K-52

K-51 is an approximately 79-mile-long (127 km) east–west state highway in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Kansas. K-51 begins at the Colorado state line as a continuation of County Road M and travels eastward through portions of Morton, Stevens, and Seward counties before ending at U.S. Route 83 (US-83) north of Liberal. Along the way, it runs concurrently with US-56 from Rolla to Hugoton. Although K-51 travels through mostly rural farmlands, it does pass through the cities of Richfield, Rolla and Hugoton. The highway is also a two-lane road most of its length with the exception of short sections within Rolla and Hugoton, where it is four lanes.

Before state highways were numbered in Kansas there were auto trails. The eastern terminus (US-83) was part of the Atlantic and Pacific Highway. K-51 was first designated as a state highway in 1926, and at that time started as a continuation of Colorado Highway 51 and went east to K-25 (current K-27). Then by 1927, it ran from K-12 north of Rolla to K-27 in Richfield.^[4] Between 1930 and 1931, K-51 was replaced with an extension of K-12. Then on January 1, 1937, K-51 was re-established from the Colorado border east to K-27. Then by 1937, K-51 was extended further east to US-83, its modern-day routing. K-51 originally overlapped US-270, then in a May 18, 1981 resolution, the US-270 designation was removed.