US 87 in Arizona Proposal

[707]

A while ago, during highway research for articles on Wikipedia, I came across resolution files and a few newspaper articles talking about extending US 87 into Arizona. Obviously, something happened to prevent this as US 87 was extended into Texas instead.

The first proposal was laid out in the late 20s and early 30s. The idea was to replace US 666, Arizona SR 61, SR 71 and SR 81 with US 87 to a town called Elfrida north of Douglas. US 87E would have continued into Douglas and ended there. US 87W would have taken a county road west from Elfrida to Tombstone, then after a short wrong way concurrency with US 80, it would have followed SR 82 to end at US 89 in Nogales. ADOT resolutions show the Arizona State Highway Department endorsed and applied for some form of US 87 extension to Douglas along US 666 and what would later become US 666 in the mid-30's. It didn't happen and instead, the proposed US 87 corridor became a southern extension of US 666 to Douglas. Arizona applied for a US 87 extension again during the second World War along the entire route of US 666, but it didn't happen again and Arizona decided to stick with US 666 until it was redesignated as US 191 in 1992.

From personal observation, it might be possible Arizona wanted US 666 extended to Douglas along the corridor proposed for US 87 in the hopes they could convince other states and AASHTO to make it a southern extension of US 87. Either way, it never happened, but it is an interesting thought to imagine US 87 between Cortez and Douglas instead of US 666.

VS988

[Zonie]

South of Denver, that would have fit better in the grid than US 87 does now.

[707]

South of Denver, that would have fit better in the grid than US 87 does now.

Indeed. I'm surprised it didn't happen. Either AASHO refused and denied Arizona's requests like it did half of the time or none of the other states agreed.

VS988

[sparker]

It's probably more like "what Texas wants, Texas gets".   US 87 seems to be the ancestor of the current Port-to-Plains corridor concept -- except that it actually ends at a port (Lavaca), albeit a minor one at that.  Connecting the Front Range to the Gulf was likely the brief back when; the US 87 designation was likely appropriated by TX interests, necessitating the long multiplex with US 85 -- although I would venture that the current US 287 alignment between Dumas, TX and Denver was also considered for that route.   But the final arrangement seems to have been a big check in the win column for Texas; they got two roughly parallel corridors -- 87 & 287 -- connecting their major traffic generators (San Antonio and DFW, respectively) to Denver.   Thus if Raton was snowed in or otherwise impassible, the alternate out in the plains was always there.  And the longstanding primary commercial purpose of the area traversed by the two corridors -- resource extraction (with agriculture added as a bonus) -- had its corporate entities located near one or the other corridor -- the combined US 87 & 287 corridors could arguably be considered as the "main streets" of that type of enterprise in the region.   Given all that, any attempt to divert US 87 to AZ was likely a quixotic lost cause from the outset.   

[Max Rockatansky]

Certainly would have made more sense than where it ended up in Texas.  One that surprised me that never happened was at least getting US 93 as far south as Tucson.  I'm assuming the multiplex of five US Routes in downtown Phoenix probably wasn't all that appealing to the AASHTO. 

[707]

Certainly would have made more sense than where it ended up in Texas.  One that surprised me that never happened was at least getting US 93 as far south as Tucson.  I'm assuming the multiplex of five US Routes in downtown Phoenix probably wasn't all that appealing to the AASHTO.

That and AASHTO had a habit of always denying Arizona's requests. Case in point, US 93, US 90 and US 87. Yet California is allowed to get US 70 even though the route literally had no path of its own west of Globe. AASHTO even made a giant stink about putting US 93 down SR 93 to at least Wickenburg prior to 1965.

VS988

[Max Rockatansky]

Certainly would have made more sense than where it ended up in Texas.  One that surprised me that never happened was at least getting US 93 as far south as Tucson.  I'm assuming the multiplex of five US Routes in downtown Phoenix probably wasn't all that appealing to the AASHTO.

That and AASHTO had a habit of always denying Arizona's requests. Case in point, US 93, US 90 and US 87. Yet California is allowed to get US 70 even though the route literally had no path of its own west of Globe. AASHTO even made a giant stink about putting US 93 down SR 93 to at least Wickenburg prior to 1965.

VS988

Any idea if there was some pushback regarding US 95?   I always assumed that the AASHTO gave Arizona grief on getting that extended also given AZ 95 was around for awhile when US 95 ended in Blythe. 

[Rover_0]

Certainly would have made more sense than where it ended up in Texas.  One that surprised me that never happened was at least getting US 93 as far south as Tucson.  I'm assuming the multiplex of five US Routes in downtown Phoenix probably wasn't all that appealing to the AASHTO.

That and AASHTO had a habit of always denying Arizona's requests. Case in point, US 93, US 90 and US 87. Yet California is allowed to get US 70 even though the route literally had no path of its own west of Globe. AASHTO even made a giant stink about putting US 93 down SR 93 to at least Wickenburg prior to 1965.

VS988

The US-90 to Arizona extension is news to me; that sounds like an early (1926-1930s) proposal.

[The Ghostbuster]

I've never heard of a potential US 87 extension into Arizona. It certainly wasn't mentioned in the defunct US Highways 1-830 website. Ditto for extending US 90 to Arizona. Maybe it could have followed present day US 180 from the present day TX-54/US 62/180 intersection all the way to Holbrook.

[sparker]

I've never heard of a potential US 87 extension into Arizona. It certainly wasn't mentioned in the defunct US Highways 1-830 website. Ditto for extending US 90 to Arizona. Maybe it could have followed present day US 180 from the present day TX-54/US 62/180 intersection all the way to Holbrook.

US 90 to Holbrook?  Seeing as how US 180 was extended back about '61, that's not as far-fetched as it would seem on paper (the right-angle extension up TX 54 and over US 62/180 seems a bit unwieldly, though).  And then there's US 84 to consider as a precedent -- a cookie-cutter lateral between US 80 and US 90 until it gets to West Texas, where it shoots up diagonally into CO!  But it's likely AASHO and the BPR (back then) decided that since US 80 does enough border-hugging west of El Paso, that dragging US 90 into the mix would simply be confusing.  Even then, it's a bit amusing to imagine US 90 terminating at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.     

[Max Rockatansky]

I've never heard of a potential US 87 extension into Arizona. It certainly wasn't mentioned in the defunct US Highways 1-830 website. Ditto for extending US 90 to Arizona. Maybe it could have followed present day US 180 from the present day TX-54/US 62/180 intersection all the way to Holbrook.

US 90 to Holbrook?  Seeing as how US 180 was extended back about '61, that's not as far-fetched as it would seem on paper (the right-angle extension up TX 54 and over US 62/180 seems a bit unwieldly, though).  And then there's US 84 to consider as a precedent -- a cookie-cutter lateral between US 80 and US 90 until it gets to West Texas, where it shoots up diagonally into CO!  But it's likely AASHO and the BPR (back then) decided that since US 80 does enough border-hugging west of El Paso, that dragging US 90 into the mix would simply be confusing.  Even then, it's a bit amusing to imagine US 90 terminating at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.   

Really US 260 should have just stayed on that corridor.  Even US 180 takes way too long of a multiplex just to get to Deming. 

[707]

As far as I'm concerned, US 180 should have never existed period, save for the standalone section west of Weatherford. Even today, it's just a redundant designation that does nothing but clutter things. I honestly would not mind seeing it get truncated to a junction with US 62 in west Texas.

As for US 90, that proposal went as follows according to California and Arizona newspapers:
-Concurrent with US 80 from Van Horn to Road Forks
-Replaces NM 14 and SR 86 (Current I-10) from Roadforks to Benson
-Concurrent with US 80 from Benson to Tucson
-Replaces SR 84 from Tucson to Gila Bend
-Concurrent with US 80 from Gila Bend to SR 98 in California
-Replaces SR 98 from US 80 near Holtville to US 80 near Ocotillo
-Concurrent with US 80 from Ocotillo to Boulevard
-Replaces SR 94 from Boulevard to San Diego

Prior to the 1950s, the exact same proposed route above was put down for US 62. As one can imagine, that didn't happen either. Out of all the never-was proposals that Arizona sided with, I have to say US 93 to Nogales and US 87 to Douglas were the ones that made the most sense. I chalk those two up as being canceled because of AASHTO being biased against Arizona. The way Richard Weingroff's paper is written on US 93 in Arizona seems to suggest AASHTO in the past liked to deny anything Arizona came up with unless it was supported by larger states with more political power (i.e. California) or if the highway proposed was a 3DI, which were considered less important in those days.

[Max Rockatansky]

Really AZ 86 and AZ 84 should have become the mainline of US 80 and the older route a 3D as time went on.  Having US 90 extended all that way west on multiplexed just branch off near Lordsburg was kind of nutty. 

[707]

Really AZ 86 and AZ 84 should have become the mainline of US 80 and the older route a 3D as time went on.  Having US 90 extended all that way west on multiplexed just branch off near Lordsburg was kind of nutty.

Yeah. It was. It would've made sense if they put US 90 where NM 9 is though. I could see that being a possibility. But the point stands that there's no realistically straight or sensible route to put US 90 on between Van Horn and San Diego.

[sparker]

The whole US 90 extension proposal seems at best gratuitous; I can't imagine any source of pressure to extend that route to the West Coast, particularly considering the various multiplexes along US 70 west of Las Cruces.   Imagine proposing extending US 10 via ferry from Detroit to somewhere around Erie, PA, and then east more or less along NY/NJ 17 to NYC metro -- just to get it to the eastern seaboard.   But then, some things that have been deployed are as stupid if not more so!

[707]

There was quite a bit of lobbying and support from the Highway 90 Association for that extension. They even went as far as to win people over by providing meetings with free breakfasts. That's how they got Casa Grande's support.

VS988

[sparker]

Please pardon the detour into what might be termed "retro-fictional", but IMO the "shortcut" sections in AZ (and a few miles in NM originally NM 14) consisting of AZ 84 and the eastern section of AZ 86 should have been designated either US 86 (shifting AZ 84 to the western AZ 86) or something like US 480.  The whole idea of three x0 US highways (70/80/90) sharing an alignment from Las Cruces west to Lordsburg would have been "piling on"; having 60/70/80 schlepping through downtown Phoenix in US highways' heyday was itself a bit ludicrous -- albeit ostensibly a victory for southern AZ politicos wanting a single signed E-W arterial serving both of their major cities!

[707]

Yeah. It would have been better in Phoenix if they had just removed US 70 west of Globe sooner, truncated US 89 to Wickenburg, extended US 93 to Nogales by way of SR 93 and moved US 80 one block south onto Washington Street which was at the time an unsigned US 80A. It would have simplified and shortened the concurrencies.

VS988

[sparker]

Yeah. It would have been better in Phoenix if they had just removed US 70 west of Globe sooner, truncated US 89 to Wickenburg, extended US 93 to Nogales by way of SR 93 and moved US 80 one block south onto Washington Street which was at the time an unsigned US 80A. It would have simplified and shortened the concurrencies.

VS988

AZ never seems to have shied away from concurrencies, whether they be multiplexed US highways (see above discussion) or overlaying state highways (such as the aforementioned AZ 93) over US and state highways all the way down to Nogales; for a while in the late '50's, US 89 from the border to Tucson was signed not only as itself but also AZ 93 and AZ 789, part of the MSR "789" route intended to be the US portion of the western "Pan-American" highway, even though it zig-zagged through some of the most desolate and roughest territory in the mountain states.  But AZ 93 also had to multiplex with AZ 87 and AZ 84 en route down to the border.   It seems that in pre-Interstate times AZDOT was either trying to provide as many signed routes as possible between Phoenix and Tucson, most likely at the behest of their political handlers who were trying to promote development of that general area.  But then AZ practices haven't always mimicked those of other states -- down to their unusual (and, IMO, bizarre) methods of mileposting their highways.  With their avoidance of federal involvement in many of their road projects (i.e., the PHX "loop" system) leading to zero 3di's deployed in the state, AZ over the years has over the years hoisted their collective middle finger at not only the federal government but concepts regularized in other states.   It's certainly iconoclastic; whether it's weird depends, I suppose, on the observer!     

[Rover_0]

I can see an "Alternate Arizona US Highway History"  thread where US-87 does follow modern-day US-191 down to Douglas, US-89 gets shortened to Wickenburg in favor of a border-to-border US-93, among others.

[707]

I can see an "Alternate Arizona US Highway History"  thread where US-87 does follow modern-day US-191 down to Douglas, US-89 gets shortened to Wickenburg in favor of a border-to-border US-93, among others.

I'll be sure to start one later in Fictional Highways.

VS988