K-42 (Kansas highway)

K-42 is a 75.061-mile-long (120.799 km) east–west state highway in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its western terminus is at U.S. Route 281 (US-281) in Sawyer and the eastern terminus is at Interstate 235 (I-235) in Wichita. Along the way K-42 intersects K-14, a major north–south highway, in Rago and K-2 east of Norwich. The highway is a two-lane highway for most of its length with the exception of the section within Wichita, which is a four-lane divided highway.

K-42 was first designated as a state highway in 1926, and at that time extended from east of Coates east to US-81 west of Belle Plaine. By 1928, K-42 was realigned to turn north by Milton, then continue to slightly west of Clearwater where it turned northeast and ended in Wichita. Also by 1928, K-8 was realigned to the east to go through Sawyer instead of Coats, which truncated K-42's western terminus to Sawyer. By 1939, K-8 was renumbered as US-281. The entire length was paved by 1957. K-2 overlapped K-42 from east of Norwich to its eastern terminus before December 21, 1994. K-42 formally extended to US-54 and US-400, then in March 2001, the eastern terminus was truncated to I-235.