U.S. Route 83 in Kansas

US-83 enters the Sunflower State, overlapped with US-270 in Seward County, approximately four miles (6.4 km) south of Liberal. From here it continues north to Liberal where it intersects US-54 and US-270 ends. North of Liberal, US-83 begins a concurrency with US-160, and the highways remain joined until reaching Sublette, the seat of Haskell County. US-83 and US-160 split north of Sublette; US-160 heads west toward Ulysses, and US-83 continues north toward Garden City.

US-50 and US-400 westbound approaching northern end of US-83 overlap

At Garden City, US-50 and US-400 join US-83 for a brief concurrency on a bypass around the east and north sides of the city while US-83 Business follows the former routing through downtown. All three routes cross K-156, also known as Kansas Avenue, in the northwest portion of the city. At the north end of the US-50/US-83 Business route, US-83 splits and heads north toward Scott City, while US-50 and US-400 remain joined through the rest of the state. The highway passes through largely unpopulated areas of Finney County and Scott County before reaching a junction with K-96 in downtown Scott City.

In northern Scott County, K-4 has its origins at US-83, heading east toward Healy, and US-83 traverses through rolling farmlands until reaching Oakley, the seat of Logan County. US-83 reaches US-40 less than a mile west of I-70, and the two highways jog west for a brief multiplex before US-83 splits and crosses I-70.

North of I-70, US-83 intersects US-24 then curves northeast, east of Gem in Thomas County. US-83 continues its northeasterly track through Rexford and Selden. After passing through Selden, US-83 intersects the southern terminus of K-383 and the northern terminus of K-23. From here, US-83 turns north, crosses into Decatur County then continues north and intersects US-36 in Oberlin. Oberlin is the last area of significant population the highway passes in Kansas; the next city is McCook, Nebraska.

In 1926, the highway that first became known as US-83 was established as K-22.[3] Then between 1930 and 1931, US-83 was extended into Kansas along K-22, which was decommissioned.[2] Between July 1938 and 1939, US-183 was altered to follow US-36 east to K-1 in Phillipsburg, which created a short overlap between US-83 and US-183 near Norton.[4][5] Then between 1941 and 1944, US-183 and US-83 were swapped within Nebraska and a small portion into Kansas. US-83 was changed to turn north just northeast of Selden and US-183 was changed to continue north past Phillipsburg, which eliminated the overlap between the two in Norton. The former alignment of US-83 from northeast of Selden to east of Woodruff became US-383, now K-383.[6][7]

In a July 2010 study, US-83 was planned to be reconstructed from Sublette to Scott City and included a diamond interchange to be built at the K-144 intersection.[8]^: 40–41 In February 2016, KDOT accepted a bid of $22.3 million (equivalent to $27.2 million in 2023) to convert the junction with K-144 to a diamond interchange as well as reconstruct a 6-mile (9.7 km) section of US-83.[9] On June 26, 2017, K-144 was closed and on June 27, 2017, US-160 was closed from K-190 east to US-83 and K-144.[10] On September 20, 2017, US-160 and K-144 reopened, with only minor work remaining to complete the entire project.[11]

U.S. Route 83 Business (US-83 Bus.) is a business route in Garden City. It begins at US-83 and travels north and ends at US-50, US-83, and .

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