140,000 miles of roads is a lot for such a small state. Alaska has maybe two percent of that amount in roads.
Almost the whole of Kansas is agricultural and surveyed of into sections -- or square mmiles. There is a dirt or gravel "country" road down virtually every section line.
Makes for a lot of road miles, but costs little in terms of maintenance and construction.
Midwest ag states all have a lot of roads for their population. The heritage of needing farm-to-market roads. States like Iowa have huge areas where roads on all four sides of each square mile aren’t at all unusual.
This probably explains why our damn personal property tax on vehicles is the highest in the country. And why so many Kansas residents tag out of state to evade said tax.