Meet Us In the Middle: Emporia is Between Topeka, Wichita, and Kansas City
Emporia’s location is ideal for businesses serving major cities in Kansas and the Midwest, along with those moving products and services throughout the country. We are an hour from Topeka and around an hour and a half from Wichita and Kansas City. We are also along the major interstate taking people from Dallas to Minneapolis.
Eastern Kansas is also a rail hub for BNSF. BNSF’s Southern Transcon route reaches from Southern California to Chicago, and the Emporia Subdivision is one of 11 BNSF subdivisions on the Transcon. One train moves through the state every 20 minutes (BNSF).
Location Highlights
- I-35 and I-335 and Highway converge here
- BNSF Transcon intermodal nearby
- The City of Emporia municipal airport, with a 5,000-foot runway, accommodates most general aviation corporate aircraft – Cessna, Gulfstream, and Falcon jets.
Transportation
Railroad
The City of Emporia and Lyon County, Kansas are served by the double tracks Transcon Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad (BNSF) from Los Angeles to Chicago with over 77 trains per day. Another BNSF single rail line heads north from Emporia through Topeka, then east to Kansas City. The BNSF website link is bnsf.com
The Logistics Park – KC is located 80 miles east of Emporia with I-35access. For more information about intermodal go to logisticsparkkc.com
Highway
Emporia is strategically located at the intersections of I-35, I-335, U.S. Highway 50 and K-99. Over ten motor freight carriers serve the Emporia community.
The following is a chart of distance in miles from Emporia to various metropolitan areas.
| CITY | MILES |
|---|---|
| Atlanta | 932 |
| Chicago | 652 |
| Cleveland | 929 |
| Dallas | 450 |
| Denver | 605 |
| Kansas City | 110 |
| Los Angeles | 1476 |
| Memphis | 592 |
| Minneapolis | 553 |
| New Orleans | 933 |
| New York | 1343 |
| St. Louis | 365 |
| Topeka | 50 |
| Wichita | 85 |
Air Service
The general aviation Emporia Municipal Airport (KEMP) is located four miles south of the city limits on K-99. Most general aviation and corporate aircraft utilize the 5,000 foot runway. Information overview of the Emporia Municipal Airport go to the following link: flightaware.com
Emporia is accessible to two commercial passenger airline services. Kansas City International Airport (123 miles, or 100 minutes away), and Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (98 miles, or 80 minutes away). Kansas City International Airport (MCI) is served by twelve airlines – Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Icelandair, ONE Jet, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, and Nacation Express/Miami Airlines. The twelve carriers fly non-stop to 56 cities throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Ice-land. For further information go to www.flykci.com
Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport is served by six airlines – Alaska Airlines, Al-legiant Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. From Wichita, these six airlines fly non-stop to twelve destinations. For further information go to: https://www.flywichita.com
Utilities
Electrical Service
Evergy provides electrical distribution in the City of Emporia. Lyon-Coffey County provides the electrical service outside the City of Emporia. The Evergy economic development contact is Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade at 316-299-7429 or ebony.clemons@evergy.com or www.evergyed.com
The 4 Rivers Electric Coop. Inc. contact is Dennis Svanes at 620-364-2116 or their website at 4 Rivers Electric Cooperative
Natural Gas
Kansas Gas Service provides the natural gas distribution for the City of Emporia. All of our industrial sites are served with natural gas. The Kansas Gas Service economic development contact is Chris Wedel at 620-341-7052 or Christopher.Wedel@onegas.com and their website is https://www.kansasgasservice.com/rate-information/tariffs.
Sanitary Sewer, Water & Wastewater
The City of Emporia provides the sanitary sewer, water and refuse service for Emporia. The point of contact is City Engineer Jim Ubert at 620-343-4264, jubert@emporia-kansas.gov or emporia-kansas.gov.
Telecommunications
Valu-Net LLC serves the entire residential and business community in Emporia with Gigabit fiber-optic service making Emporia a “Gigabit Community” providing virtually unlimited bandwidth capability. Services provided are secure Gigabit Broadband Internet, Ethernet services and Voice communications services including Analog Voice, PRI and SIP trunk service, and cable. Contact is Kala Maxfield at 620-208-5026 or kala@myvalunet.com.
AT&T is also one of the telecommunications providers in Emporia. The primary contact for Emporia is Rob Reynolds at 800-286-0256 or d.robert.reynolds@att.com
Infrastructure
Fully-Fiber Community with Reliable Infrastructure
Due to two local rivers, our water capacity is high and can support heavy manufacturing and light industry. This makes Emporia unique in an environment where many communities no longer have the water to support manufacturing and agricultural uses.
Infrastructure Highlights
- Emporial is a fully-fiber community with services offered by ValuNet. The company’s “fiber-to-the-premises” design is capable of providing up to one gigabyte (1,000 megabytes) of bandwidth to each customer’s location. Learn more here.
- 2 Natural Gas Pipelines – Southern Star 26 inch HP and Panhandle East, Westar Energy Emporia Energy Center 646 megawatt natural gas peaking plant with 345 and several 115 KW Transmission lines
- Water and sewer at our industrial parks are provided by the City of Emporia and there is room for growth
- Evergy, our major supplier, receives approximately 1/3rd of their energy from renewables. Kansas has an abundance of wind, creating a constant natural supply of energy resources.