The only section of K-52 that is included in the National Highway System is its concurrency with US-69. The NationalHighway System is a system of highways important to the nation's defense, economy, and mobility. 2017 Annual average daily traffic on K-52 ranged from 650 near the western terminus to 6530 between the East 1100 Road and East 1350 Road interchanges. Other AADT on the highway was 1230 east of US-69, 1420 slightly west of Mound City, 1870 west of US-69, 2220 slightly east of Mound City, 5690 between the south end of the K-52/US-69 overlap and the East 1100 Road interchange and 6500 between the East 1350 Road interchange and the north end of the K-52/US-69 overlap.
History
K-52 was first established as a state highway on January 7, 1937 and went from K-38 in Blue Mound northeastward to K-7 in Mound City. K-38 was then soon decommissioned and became an extension of K-31 sometime before the end of 1937. K-52 was then soon extended further west and south to end at US-54 in Moran. On March 30, 1950 a resolution was passed to slightly realign K-52/US-69 near Trading Post. K-31 originally left K-52 in Blue Mound and went south. Then in an October 9, 1957 resolution it was extended further east along K-52 and turned south at K-52's current western terminus. Sometime between 1960 and 1962 US-59 was realigned along K-52 from Kincaid to Moran. Originally K-52 stairsteped from K-31 northeastward to K-7 in Mound City, but was realigned in a February 11, 1964 resolution to a straight alignment. In a May 7, 1987 resolution K-52/US-69 was realigned from going through Pleasanton to travel to the east of the city. In a January 26, 1995 resolution K-52 was truncated from Moran to end at K-31, its current western terminus. This was done due to the concurrency having no purpose and was confusing to some travelers. In an April 29, 2008 resolution K-52/US 69 was realigned by Pleasanton, and a was created to link the southern end of the old K-52/US-69 overlap to the new one. In another April 29, 2008 resolution K-52/US-69 was realigned by Trading Post, and the north end of the K-52/US-69 overlap was moved slightly north to the new interchange.