Interstate 70 (Kansas City, Topeka, Hays: construction, food, gas)

[newhandle]

I will be driving across the county, taking I70 through Kansas City. What is the best route either through or around it? I would go a little bit out of my way if it would mean avoiding really heavy traffic. I plan on driving through on a Sunday morning. Thanks

[kcmo]

You will have no problems on 70 through KC on a Saturday. The only things that could remotely effect traffic is if there were a race at the speedway on the KS side or if the Chiefs were in town on the MO side. Hitting traffic for those would be very unlikely as you would have to be passing through right before the events.

I-70 on the KS side of KC has almost no traffic, ever. The MO side backs up frequently during the weekday rush hours, but the delays are rarely more than 15-20 minutes and you will hit far more traffic for a much longer duration if you try to go around the south side or something. Just in case you end up going through KC during the week.

You should stop and check out KC anyway. It's physically impossible for me to drive through a large city and not stop and mess around. Even if it’s just to drive around Downtown for ten minutes. But that’s me.

BTW, I-70 across KS is a nice drive, but they are always working on it. Not sure if there are any 2-lane stretches right now or not. Volumes are low though, so it’s usually not much of a delay.

I-70 across MO is much busier. 70 in MO is now nice and smooth, but there is some work going on just east of KC that could delay you some.

If you plan on staying on 70 through St Louis, take the 370 Bypass in St Charles County, that will take you around a lot potential traffic and it’s faster. It will dump you back on 270 in North St Louis County (70 comes out of StL on the north side in Illinois. That is unless you want to drive down and at least check out the Arch or something .

[quesera]

I-70 between Topeka and Hays has a couple of construction areas. One a few miles east of Abilene and somewhere between Ellsworth and Hays (can't remember specifics). They're replacing county road overpasses. No actual work on the highway.

[seastorm]

can't imagine you would have too much traffic on a sunday morning...

[bajadrmin]

Originally Posted by seastorm

can't imagine you would have too much traffic on a sunday morning...

Is there ever really "traffic" in Kansas??? The most boring state to drive through ever... we could only wish there was traffic just so we would have something to entertain us so we don't fall asleep...

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by bajadrmin

Is there ever really "traffic" in Kansas??? The most boring state to drive through ever... we could only wish there was traffic just so we would have something to entertain us so we don't fall asleep...

The OP was asking about KC, not Kansas. Once you cross into Missouri, I-70 is pretty busy, much busier than any part of I-70 in Kansas, inlcuding KCK.

But there won't be much traffic on a weekend morning.

BTW, Kansas is not the most boring state to drive across. Not even close. Take it from somebody that has driven almost every interstate highway in the nation. KS is a pretty state and is not a bad state to drive across. It has good places to stop for gas and food too. I'll take a drive across KS anyday over at least 15 other states.

The problem is there is no reason to stop in Kansas. It is a boring state to visit, one of the most boring. But that's just me. Good thing about Kansas is I know we are almost home, Missouri is next! And when going west, you know Colorado is just round the corner! Rural Oklahoma and Nebraska is much worse than Kansas. But those states do a least have some slightly interesting medium sized towns.