Skip to main content

Arizona State Route 564 and Navajo National Monument

Back in the winter of 2012 I took the entirety Arizona State Route 564 from US Route 160 north to Navajo National Monument.


AZ 564 is an approximately 9.1 mile north/south State Route from US 160/BIA 41 in the Navajo Nation of Navajo County.  AZ 564 was created in 1970 when it connected to what was US Route 164.  US 164 was the second US Route to carry said designation and existed from 1966 to 1970.  US 164 was routed between Cortez, CO west to Flagstaff  via multiplex of US 89.  The history of the endpoints of US 164 can seen seen on USends.com.

USends.com on US 164 (ii)

At some point during 1970 US 164 was replaced by US 160 in Arizona.  The irony of the previous US 164 designation was that the route east of US 89 originally was part of AZ 64 which essentially made AZ 564 the fifth spur route of said highway.   Aside from AZ 264 the routing of AZ 564 is the only child route of AZ 64 that remains.  AZ 564 can first be seen on this 1971 State Highway Map of Arizona.

1971 Arizona State Highway Map


AZ 564 doesn't have any significant junctions on it's routing north to Navajo National Monument but the road does become BIA 221 at the National Park Boundary.  BIA 221 loops southwest from Navajo National Monument towards AZ 98.

Navajo National Monument is located on the Shonto Plateau sub-region of the Colorado Plateau and protects the well preserved Anasazi cliff-dwellings located there.  The cliff dwellings generally are known as Keet Seel and are located near the bottom of Tsegi Canyon.  Keet Seel was first occupied around 1250 the structures preserved today were built through the 1270s to 1280s.  Keet Seel was rediscovered in 1895 and was designated as a National Monument in 1909.












Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Tale of Tollhouse Road, western California State Route 168 and failed Piute Pass Highway

Western California State Route 168 is entirely located in Fresno County and is linked historically to the Tollhouse Road corridor.   Tollhouse Road is one of the oldest highways in the Sierra Nevada range of Fresno County. The corridor presently begins in at Clovis Avenue in downtown Clovis and extends northeast to Huntington Lake. In 1866 the Woods Brothers established mining claims on Pine Ridge. In 1867 Fresno County would grant the brothers a toll franchise to construct a roadway to the desirable logging areas atop Pine Ridge and near Dinkey Creek. The Woods would establish a tollhouse at the start of their franchise road and lumber mill. The lumber mill attracted settlers which led to the establishment of the mountain town of Tollhouse. Fresno County would purchase the Tollhouse Road in 1878 and make it a public highway. The county would remove the tolls and incorporate the corridor into the existing county road network. Prior to the establishment of Clovis in 1...

Old Dunlap Road (former California State Route 180 in Yokuts Valley)

When California State Route 180 was commissioned in August 1934 the alignment in took in Sierra Nevada range was very different than from today.  The original highway alignment from Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) to east Grant Grove (then part of General Grant National Park) originally followed what is now Ruth Hill Road, Dunlap Road, Pinehurst Road (modern California State Route 245), Dark Canyon Road (partially now Forest Road 14S45).  After funding fell through for the planned Kings Canyon Road the was corridor eventually picked up as a 30-mile-long cooperative project between the Division of Highways and Federal Government.  Much of current alignment of California State Route 180 bypassing Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) and Dunlap was complete by 1941.  The post-1941 alignment of California State Route 180 in Squaw Valley was shifted onto what was once Dunlap Road in Squaw Valley.  This alignment itself was later bypassed by modern California State Route...

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve - Thurmond

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is best known for whitewater rafting and other forms of adventure tourism.  Yet, found in the hollows and isolated valleys are quiet farms and former coal mining towns.  Well off the beaten path and isolated from much of its surroundings, Thurmond provides a unique view into Central West Virginia's industrial past. Thurmond began as a railroad town in the late 1800s.  Sparked by the arrival of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad and the local coal industry, Thurmond quickly grew into a sizeable transportation and coal center.  When it incorporated as a town in 1903, Thurmond was a full-fledged community - home to two banks, two hotels, and many other services and stores. A CSX freight train passes the old coaling tower in Thurmond.  It was here that many steam locomotives would refill and refuel. Thurmond was home to a C&O railyard which serviced the numerous steam engines passing through the narrow valley.  Thu...