AZ 89, Historic US 89 North - The 'National Park Highway' - Yarnell to Prescott

One of the original routes signed in 1926, US 89 ran from the US-Mexico border at Nogales north to Tucson, where it met US 80 near downtown Tucson and continued north through Florence to Florence Junction, where both routes turned west to head into Phoenix. Just west of downtown Phoenix, US 80 continued west on Van Buren St while US 89 curved northwest onto Grand Ave towards Wickenburg. Just past Wickenburg, US 89 went directly north towards the town of Congress. Now running northeast, it began it's multiple-switchback ascent up Yarnell Hill into the town of Yarnell. In Yarnell the road straighten out with gentle, sweeping curves and climbs until Wilhoit, where it began it's ascent up the Bradshaw Mountains to reach the territorial capital of Arizona: Prescott. 1932 saw the addition of US 60 to Arizona, which was co-routed with then-US 180 to Florence Junction. This continued to be US 180's western terminus, while US 60 continued in Phoenix with US 80 and 89. US 70 was later extended in 1934, completely co-routed with US 60 through Phoenix. US 180 was later deleted in 1935 due to redundancy. In 1946, Arizona routed SR 93 from Kingman to Nogales, creating a new state highway between US 66 in Kingman and US 89 north of Wickenburg, but overlapping US 89 into Phoenix and Tempe, where it was moved to SR 87 to reach Casa Grande and Picacho, before joining SR 84 to Tucson, and US 89 once again to Nogales. This was part of a push to extend US 93, which ended in Kingman, to the international border for trade reasons. (Ironically, I-11 will eventually complete this push by replacing US 93 for the same reason.) After much work building the highway from Kingman to Wickenburg, that was the only portion accepted for US 93's southern extension. The remaining portions that were all overlaps remained SR 93 until finally being dropped from the state highway system in 1984. US 89's truncation is actually a later one compared to some US highways, having only been truncated in 1992. Prior to that, it ran concurrently with it's replacements: I-19 from Nogales to Tucson, then I-10 within Tucson where it jumped off at Miracle Mile to head east then north on Oracle Road. In Oracle Junction, it met SR 77 and continued north to Florence and Florence Junction, where it continued to co-route with US 60 into Phoenix. (US 70 was truncated to Globe in 1969, US 80 to Benson in 1979.) Both routes continued to take US 60's street alignment via Apache Trail, Main St, Apache Blvd, Mill Ave, Van Buren and Grand Ave. From there, they split in Wickenburg, with US 60 heading due west to Los Angeles and US 89 continuing north to Prescott. US 89 continued directly north into Congress from it's junction with US 93 north of Wickenburg. After heading northeast to reach Prescott - where it met SR 69, US 89A branched off to take traffic on a more direct eastward diagonal route to Flagstaff. This was originally SR 79, but was redesignated after construction and paving to US 89A in 1941. Mainline US 89 continued north to meet I-40 (US 66 prior to the 1960s), where it co-routed into Flagstaff, leaving I-40 at exit 201. (Prior to 1968, it followed US 66 along modern I-40 Business where the two routes departed on the eastern edge of town.) US 89 then continued north into Utah With the completion of the Superstition Freeway in 1992, Arizona opted to truncate US 89 back to Flagstaff so US 60 could occupy the freeway from Phoenix to Apache Junction by itself. This left I-40 alone from Ash Fork to Flagstaff, and orphaned two major roads in the state. Between the US 93 junction north of Wickenburg and Ash Fork - the largest and most important orphan - US 89 became SR 89. This makes Routes 89 and 89A the only highways in Arizona to have two segments, unconnected, that share a number but not a shield. The stub from the US 93/US 89 interchange to US 60 in Wickenburg became US 93, and US 60 got Grand Ave to itself. The large segment from Florence Junction to Oracle received the recycled SR 79 designation US 89A used to use, while SR 77 was extended to meet I-10 in Tucson. A year later, in 1993, US 89A from Flagstaff to Prescott became SR 89A. I question this decision. Arizona could've run US 89 through Flagstaff on I-40 Bus (as all business loops in Arizona are state owned), replaced this segment of US 89A with US 89, and had US 89 end at US 93 north of Wickenburg. Thanks for watching! Follow and Support Me: Website: forgottenhwy.com Twitter: http://bit.ly/hwytweet Instagram: http://bit.ly/hwyinsta Facebook: http://bit.ly/hwyfacebook Patreon: http://bit.ly/hwypatreon Music: Track 1: Traffic Light (ft. 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