Arizona State Route 80

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State Route 80
Maintained by ADOT
Length: 120.23 mi[1] (193.49 km)
Formed: 1989[2]
West end: I-10 Bus. near Benson
Major
junctions:		 US 191 in Douglas
East end: NM 80
State routes in Arizona
< SR 79 SR 81 >
Unconstructed - Former
Arizona Route 80 skirts the edge of the Lavender Pit in Bisbee
Arizona Route 80 skirts the edge of the Lavender Pit in Bisbee

State Route 80 (SR 80) is a roughly arc-shaped highway lying in southeastern Arizona that, with New Mexico's State Road 80, is a relic of the old U.S. Route 80, now truncated from San Diego to Dallas. This segment of old US 80 was not closely parallelled by Interstate 10, which lies to its north, and instead supplants the old and more direct (defunct in eastern Arizona) State Route 86.

Contents

[edit] Route description

Its western terminus is on Interstate 10 at Benson, Arizona; the eastern terminus is on the New Mexico state line. It passes through Tombstone, the (in)famous Wild West town, Bisbee, and Douglas on the border with the Mexican federal state of Sonora and in which it meets U.S. Route 191. All of it is surface road, and it is the route of the Butterfield Stage Coach of the nineteenth century, and the Old Spanish Trail.

It is not a very direct route; west of Douglas it is almost as much a north-south route as an east-west route, and it is practically a north-south route east of Douglas.

[edit] History

SR 80 was originally conceived as part of the proposed state system of highway in 1919.[3] In 1926, it became part of the cross-country highway US 80. The road was paved at this time between Douglas and Bisbee as well as a portion south of Tombstone. The remainder of the highway was a gravel road.[4] By 1931, the highway was paved from Bisbee to the New Mexico state line as well as a portion south of Benson and another portion south of Tombstone.[5] By 1934, the only portion of the highway yet to be paved was a section between Tombstone and Bisbee.[6] The entire route had been paved by 1935.[7] The highway would continue to serve as a portion of US 80 until 1989 when the last portion of US 80 in Arizona was removed. This portion of the highway was redesignated as SR 80 at this time.[2]

[edit] Junction list

The entire route is in Cochise County.

Location Mile[1] Junction Notes
Benson 0.08 I-10 Bus.
20.69 SR 82 west
39.33 SR 90 west
Bisbee 49.59 SR 92 Traffic circle
Douglas 70.57 US 191 north West end of US 191 overlap
72.04 US 191 south East end of US 191 overlap
120.23 NM 80


[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Arizona Department of Transportation. 2006 ADOT Highway Log. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
  2. ^ a b Arizona Department of Transportation. ADOT Right-of-Way Resolution 1989-12-A-096. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
  3. ^ Arizona Highway Department. Map of Proposed State Highway System of Arizona [map]. (1919) Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
  4. ^ Arizona Highway Department. Map of Arizona [map]. (1926) Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
  5. ^ Arizona Highway Department. Condition Map of State Highway System [map]. (1931) Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
  6. ^ Arizona Highway Department. Condition Map of State Highway System [map]. (1934) Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
  7. ^ Arizona Highway Department. Road Map of Arizona [map]. (1935) Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
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