User:MatthewAnderson707/sandbox/U.S. Route 666 in Arizona

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U.S. Route 666

Devil's Highway
Route information
Maintained by ADOT
Length373.37 mi[1] (600.88 km)
Total length does not include US 666T
ExistedDecember 4, 1938 (1938-12-04)–September 18, 1992 (1992-09-18)
Major junctions
South end SR 80 near Douglas
Major intersections

North end I-40 / US 666 in Lupton
Location
CountryUnited States
StateArizona
CountiesCochise, Graham, Greenlee, Apache
Highway system
  • Arizona State Highway System

U.S. Route 666 (US 666) was a U.S. Highway in the southeastern part of Arizona. The entire expanse of US 666 in Arizona ran between Douglas and Sanders. It was also an auxiliary route of US 66, from which US 666 derived its number.

Route description

History

What would become US 666 was originally designated on September 9, 1927 as State Route 81 (SR 81) between US 80 in Douglas and US 180 in Safford. SR 71 was designated on the route between US 180 near Solomon and Clifton. Two further parts of the Douglas to Sanders route were sections of US 180 between Safford and Solomonsville and US 70 between Springerville and St. Johns. The remainder of the route between Douglas and Sanders was not part of the state highway system.[2]

Undesignated parts of the Douglas to Sanders corridor were being added the state highway system beginning in 1928 when SR 71 was extended north from Clifton to US 70 near Springerville.[3] On September 27, 1933, half of the route between St. Johns and Sanders was designated as part of SR 61.[4] By 1936, SR 81 was designated over the entire route between US 80 in Douglas and US 66 in Sanders, with SR 71 being decommissioned. This established concurrencies with US 70 (which now took the former route of US 180), US 180 (which had taken over the original route of US 70) and SR 61.[5]

US 666 in front of the Phelps Dodge smelter in Morenci, June 1972.

Beginning in 1934, the ADOT petitioned the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHO) to make the Douglas to Sanders corridor a southern extension of US 666.[6] On December 4, 1938, AASHO approved an extension of US 666 from what was then its southern terminus in Gallup, New Mexico to Douglas, replacing the entirety of SR 81.[7] Between Gallup and Sanders, US 666 was concurrent with US 66, entering Arizona at Lupton.[8]

US 666 Arizona 1956 North.svgUS 666 Arizona 1956 South.svg
US 666 shields used in Arizona during the mid-1950s

On November 7, 1974, the section of US 666 through the Morenci mine was redesignated as a temporary route, becoming US 191 Temporary.[9] The intent was to construct a new section of US 666 around the mine to replace the old section.[10] As of 2021, the proposed route hasn't been constructed but remains in planning.[11] By 1988, the total length of US 666 in Arizona between Douglas and New Mexico was 373.37 miles (600.88 kilometers), not including US 666T.[1]

Due to the highway's numeric designation being similar to the number of the beast (which was the number 666) from the Book of Revelation in the Bible, US 666 gained the nickname, the "Devil's Highway", and in turn became associated with the biblical devil. The number was never meant to be an association to the Bible or its passages, as the number chosen for US 666 was meant to denote it was the sixth branch route of US 66. All designations between US 166 and US 566 were already planned or were in use by other highways.[8]

However, the biblical association and constant theft of US 666 navigational markers, prompted the state of Arizona to renumber the highway.[12] AASHTO approved a request from the states of Arizona and New Mexico to re-designate US 666 in June 1992. As a result, US 666 was truncated to its original southern terminus in Gallup, while US 191 was extended south along former US 666 between Sanders and Douglas. US 191 became concurrent with I-40 between Chambers and Sanders.[8] The redesignation was officially implemented by the ADOT on September 18, 1992.[13] The remainder of US 666 north of Gallup was redesignated U.S. Route 666 in 2003.[8]

Major intersections

CountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
CochiseDouglas0.000.00 SR 80 – Douglas, BisbeeSouthern terminus; former US 80
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. ^ a b c Transportation Planning Division, Data Bureau (January 1, 1988). "1988 State Highway System Log" (PDF). Arizona Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via Arizona Memory Project.
  2. ^ Arizona State Highway Department (1927). Arizona State Highway Commission Official State Routes and State Highways of the State of Arizona (Map). 1:1,267,200. Cartography by W.B. Land. Arizona Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via AARoads.
  3. ^ Arizona State Highway Department (1928). Map of Arizona (Map). 1:1,267,200. Cartography by W.B. Land. Arizona Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via AARoads.
  4. ^ Arizona State Highway Department (September 27, 1933). "ADOT Right-of-Way Resolution 1933-P-385". Works Consulting LLC – via Arizona Highway Data. DESIGNATE HIGHWAY AS STATE ROUTE
  5. ^ Arizona Mapping Service (1936). Arizona Highways - June 1936 - The Harriet F. Cobb Relief Map of the State of Arizona (Map). 1:1900800. Phoenix: Arizona State Highway Department. p. 19. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  6. ^ Arizona State Highway Department (April 13, 1934). "ADOT Right-of-Way Resolution 1934-P-567". Works Consulting LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via Arizona Highway Data. REQUEST TO DESIGNATE HWY AS U.S. 666. This is already a state highway, but they are requesting it to be called U.S. 666.
  7. ^ Executive Committee (May 28, 1938). "Addendum to Minutes of Executive Committee" (PDF) (Report). Washington, DC: American Association of State Highway Officials. p. 53. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via Wikimedia Commons. U.S. 666 was extended from Gallup, New Mexico via Lupton in Arizona, Sanders, St. Johns, Clifton, Safford, Bowie Junction; thence over State Route 81 to Douglas. (Minutes of Executive Committee, December 4, 1938, Dallas, Texas)
  8. ^ a b c d Weingroff, Richard F. (June 18, 2003). "US 666: Beast of a Highway?". Highway History. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  9. ^ Arizona Department of Transportation (November 7, 1974). "ADOT Right-of-Way Resolution 1974-10-A-029". Works Consulting LLC. Retrieved June 15, 2023 – via Arizona Highway Data. ESTABLISH RELOCATED MORENCI BYPASS AS STATE HWY PREVIOUSLY A STATE ROUTE BY RESOLUTION 72-93. AMENDED BY 81-07-A-023 TO CORRECT EXCHANGE AREA WITH PHELPS DODGE.
  10. ^ Arizona Department of Transportation. "ADOT Right-of-Way Resolution 1973-072". Works Consulting LLC – via Arizona Highway Data. ESTABLISH RELOCATED MORENCI BYPASS AS STATE HWY PREVIOUSLY A STATE ROUTE BY RESOLUTION 72-93. AMENDED BY 81-07-A-023 TO CORRECT EXCHANGE AREA WITH PHELPS DODGE.
  11. ^ Roadway Inventory Management Section, Multimodal Planning Division (December 31, 2021). "2021 State Highway System Log" (PDF). Arizona Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  12. ^ Rookhuyzen, David (October 31, 2019). "Throwback Thursday: This photo has us bedeviled". Arizona Department of Transportation Website. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  13. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Res 1992
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