Paper Highways; US Route 280 and US Route 380 in Arizona

In this edition of Paper Highways we examine US Route 280 and US Route 380 within Arizona. Both US 280 and US 380 were planned highways in Arizona that were ultimately consolidated into what became the southern leg of US Route 89.

The History of US Route 280 and US Route 380 in Arizona

In the early drafts of the US Route System in Arizona US Route 89 didn't extend south of Flagstaff. US 280 was planned to be aligned from US 60 (which became US 66) from Ashfork south to US 80 in Phoenix. US 380 was planned be aligned from US 80 in Tucson south to the Mexican Border in Nogales. US 280 and US 380 both appear on the 1925 Bureau of Public Roads draft of the US Route System along with US 89 terminating at US 60 in Flagstaff. A copy of the 1925 Bureau of Public Roads plan of the US Route System can be found here:

Report of Joint Board of Interstate Highways; October 30th 1925

US 280 and US 380 appear to have survived to the final stages of the stages of what became the US Route System or may have even been part of it. To that end there is no known copy of the final US Routes which were approved in November 1926. US 280 and US 380 make an appearance on the 1927 Rand McNally Highway Map of Arizona.

Interestingly the Arizona State Route System was initially based off giving sequential numbers to the State Highways that matched the original US Route System. In the first draft of the Arizona State Highway System the Apache Trail was planned as AZ 66 but was changed to AZ 88 when US 60 became US 66. Curiously though one of the original planned State Highways was AZ 89 which originated in Prescott and tracked northeast to Jerome. AZ 89 terminated in Jerome but was planned to reach Flagstaff. At the time the route from Prescott to Jerome was a well established highway which was well traveled due to the massive mining interests in Jerome. It would seem that Arizona had it's eyes set on extending US 89 to Prescott whenever a quality road from Jerome to Flagstaff could be built. AZ 89 can be also be seen on the 1927 Rand McNally Highway Map of Arizona/New Mexico.

It appears that the State of Arizona was able to convince the AASHO early in the early days of the US Route System that US 89 was a far more important route designation than US 280 and US 380. US 89 appears aligned all the way south to the Mexican Border in Nogales on the 1927 National Map Company Regional Highway Map.

It appears that US 280 and US 380 were never field signed in Arizona. AZ 89 was quickly re-designated as AZ 79 and was built to State Highway standards all the way to Flagstaff by 1938. AZ 79 eventually would become US 89A in 1941 which fulfilled the push to get a US Route to Prescott by way of the mines of Jerome. US 280 was ultimately recycled in 1931 into a new highway between Savannah, GA and Columbus, GA. US 380 was recycled in 1932 as a new highway San Antonio, NM and Albany, TX.

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population. The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t

Hernando de Soto Bridge (Memphis, TN)

The newest of the bridges that span the lower Mississippi River at Memphis, the Hernando de Soto Bridge was completed in 1973 and carries Interstate 40 between downtown Memphis and West Memphis, AR. The bridge’s signature M-shaped superstructure makes it an instantly recognizable landmark in the city and one of the most visually unique bridges on the Mississippi River. As early as 1953, Memphis city planners recommended the construction of a second highway bridge across the Mississippi River to connect the city with West Memphis, AR. The Memphis & Arkansas Bridge had been completed only four years earlier a couple miles downriver from downtown, however it was expected that long-term growth in the metro area would warrant the construction of an additional bridge, the fourth crossing of the Mississippi River to be built at Memphis, in the not-too-distant future. Unlike the previous three Mississippi River bridges to be built the city, the location chosen for this bridge was about two

Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (Memphis, TN)

Like the expansion of the railroads the previous century, the modernization of the country’s highway infrastructure in the early and mid 20th Century required the construction of new landmark bridges along the lower Mississippi River (and nation-wide for that matter) that would facilitate the expected growth in overall traffic demand in ensuing decades. While this new movement had been anticipated to some extent in the Memphis area with the design of the Harahan Bridge, neither it nor its neighbor the older Frisco Bridge were capable of accommodating the sharp rise in the popularity and demand of the automobile as a mode of cross-river transportation during the Great Depression. As was the case 30 years prior, the solution in the 1940s was to construct a new bridge in the same general location as its predecessors, only this time the bridge would be the first built exclusively for vehicle traffic. This bridge, the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, was completed in 1949 and was the third

James Cowlin said…

Thank you for the information about the history of US Route 89 in Arizona. I am aware of some of the history but not in the detail you provided. I have been working on a project to promote travel on US 89 for about 15 years. I wrote an article on what I learned about the history of 89 between Canada and Mexico for my website. Have you researched any of the other sections of the highway? The website is usroute89.com

Jim Cowlin

7:21 PM

Challenger Tom said…

We do have quite a bit on US 89 in Arizona. Off the top of my head some of the articles on US 89 that we have feature; the Navajo Bridge/US 89A, the 1911 Cameron Suspension Bridge, former US 66/89 in Williams, former US 89 on AZ 89, and former US 89A on AZ 89A.

8:14 PM