Questions about Arizona US 80 and 93

[bugo]

Why was US 80 routed through Douglas instead of through Bowie?  It looks like it would have been signed US 80A if nothing else.

Why was US 80 routed through Phoenix instead of along AZ 84?  I can understand wanting Phoenix on US 80, but the AZ 84 route is so much closer.

Did US 93 ever extend to Phoenix?  I have a map showing US 60/70/93 triplexed from Wickenburg to Phoenix.  If so, where exactly did it end?

Decommissioning US 89 was a stupid idea.  It serves a purpose and deserves to be a US highway.  Same with US 89A.

[swbrotha100]

I don't think there was ever a US 93 in Phoenix. There used to be an AZ 93 that went from Nogales to Kingman, to compliment US 93.

http://arizonaroads.com/arizona/az93.html

I agree with you as far as US 89. It would be nice to have the southern portion back.

[xonhulu]

Why was US 80 routed through Douglas instead of through Bowie?  It looks like it would have been signed US 80A if nothing else.

Might be the road through Bowie didn't exist when US 80 was created in 1927.  But that doesn't explain why US 80 wasn't moved onto that road later, and the route through Douglas signed as US 80A, like you suggested.

Why was US 80 routed through Phoenix instead of along AZ 84?  I can understand wanting Phoenix on US 80, but the AZ 84 route is so much closer.

Again, could be that's where the existing road was.  This one makes more sense, though, as Phoenix is a major destination and they probably wanted to provide a route to it.

Decommissioning US 89 was a stupid idea.  It serves a purpose and deserves to be a US highway.  Same with US 89A.

Add me to the list agreeing with you.  But I always think it's stupid to truncate a US Route just to resign it as a state route with the same number.  See MN 61.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I did some old map research when compiling highway history for NM and that question about U.S. 80 was high on my list to answer. It seems the routing through Douglas was the main route in the 1920s and 30s. The road through Bowie and Willcox - AZ 86 and NM 14 - was a decent road by the 1930s, but I can't answer why it or original U.S. 80 wasn't redesignated as 80A.

[corco]

The answer to the question lies not in Douglas, but in Bisbee.

Bisbee used to be a very significant city in Arizona- far moreso than Willcox. Bisbee was probably the third largest city in Arizona in 1926 and combined with Douglas and Fort Huachuca was one of the most populated areas of the state, while there was pretty much nothing in Willcox. A traveler headed down US-80 was probably as likely to be headed to Bisbee/Douglas as they were to Tucson, so that routing makes sense.

[Sonic99]

US 93 did come through the Valley, it basically truncated with US 60 from Wickenburg, down Grand Ave, through Downtown Phoenix and Tempe, then across on Main St. in Mesa. 93 went south on Country Club and further on south. It basically did the exact same route as US 89 from Wickenburg south, which is probably why 93 was cut short at Wickenburg.

[national highway 1]

Apparently US 93 never entered Phoenix; from 1965, US 93 was extended SE from Kingman to Congress Jct (93 & 89 jct outside Wickenburg). When US 89 was truncated to Flagstaff in 1992, US 93 was extended along US 89 to US 60 into Wickenburg
End of US Highway 93
US 93 could be extended into Phoenix by US 60 SE to I-17. US 60 can be truncated to I-10, and AZ 74 can be extended west to I-10 at Brenda.

[swbrotha100]

Here's a link to a 1956 map of Phoenix:

http://www.bigmapblog.com/2011/us40-12-phoenix-arizona-street-map-1956/

[Billy F 1988]

Apparently US 93 never entered Phoenix; from 1965, US 93 was extended SE from Kingman to Congress Jct (93 & 89 jct outside Wickenburg). When US 89 was truncated to Flagstaff in 1992, US 93 was extended along US 89 to US 60 into Wickenburg
End of US Highway 93
US 93 could be extended into Phoenix by US 60 SE to I-17. US 60 can be truncated to I-10, and AZ 74 can be extended west to I-10 at Brenda.

Wouldn't it be a better option to have 93 bypass 60, then meet up at the split to 60 and I-17 or is that not possible?

[The High Plains Traveler]

Apparently US 93 never entered Phoenix; from 1965, US 93 was extended SE from Kingman to Congress Jct (93 & 89 jct outside Wickenburg). When US 89 was truncated to Flagstaff in 1992, US 93 was extended along US 89 to US 60 into Wickenburg
End of US Highway 93
US 93 could be extended into Phoenix by US 60 SE to I-17. US 60 can be truncated to I-10, and AZ 74 can be extended west to I-10 at Brenda.

Wouldn't it be a better option to have 93 bypass 60, then meet up at the split to 60 and I-17 or is that not possible?

I think Arizona has enough designations for the existing and projected highways through southern Arizona. It doesn't need to extend U.S. 93. That route never extended beyond Wickenburg, as swbrotha100 indicated above. There was AZ-93, which originally ran from Kingman to Wickenburg until extension of the U.S. route; and over its existence south of Wickenburg was multiplexed with multitudinous other routes (as in, U.S. 60-70-80-89/AZ-93 on a single piece of road).

[bugo]

Why AZ 93?  Did they apply to AASHTO to extend US 93 and were denied?

[The High Plains Traveler]

Why AZ 93?  Did they apply to AASHTO to extend US 93 and were denied?

Rather, I think the use of 93 was a placeholder. I don't believe that any application was filed with AASHTO, other than that to mark the route between Kingman and Wickenburg. Construction of the interstates, which post-dated the use of the AZ-93 designation by many years, likely rendered moot any plans to designate the entire route to Nogales as a continuous U.S. route.