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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Original Arizona Sr86 Alignment Between Benson And Willcox


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Hello all: If anyone is interested I have just posted pictures in a new gallery of a short (from Tucson) road trip I took a few days ago to check out the original alignment of what was Arizona State Route 86 from 1936 (when the route was established) until about 1941 or 42 (when a new, paved alignment through Texas Canyon was completed), between Benson and Willcox AZ.

 

What got me interested in this is that I recently was checking out old Arizona highway maps at the University of Arizona library and I noticed that the original dirt alignment went through Dragoon and Cochise (both tiny communities between Benson and Willcox) while the later (and still current via Interstate 10) alignment bypasses both communities to the north.

 

The old alignment between the two little towns is still mostly unpaved to this day, as the current paved route runs east from Dragoon to US 191 and thence N/NW to Cochise. The old dirt alignment runs from SW to NE along the UP railroad tracks and is called Manzara Road today.

 

From Cochise to Willcox the original route continued to run directly along the tracks, through a corner of the Willcox Playa (dry lake bed). East of US 191 (formerly the infamous 666, and before that AZ SR81) the original alignment is no longer accessible as it is behind fenced land. It entered Willcox via Railroad Avenue which, no surprise, is the road paralleling the tracks!

 

Hope you enjoy a handful of shots I took on a beautiful cloudless spring day, in the galleries!

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mga707,

 

I really enjoyed the photos! Beyond the alignment, the photos reminded me of the Arizona I loved back in the 1970's. I'm even thinking maybe I drove some of that road. In any event, great stuff!

 

Oh, your mention of the UofA library also brought back recollections of taking afternoon, between class, siestas in the comfortable chairs. A visit to the library always improves the mind!

 

And you have inspired me to post to the gallery soon as well.

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road

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Thank you both for your positive comments!

One interesting 'road fact' about old AZ86 was that both it and another early Arizona state highway--AZ84 between Tucson and Gila Bend--served as US80 'short cuts'.

86 ran from Benson to Road Forks, NM, just east of the AZ/NM state line, and 'cut off' a huge section of 80 that headed southeastward at Benson to go through Bisbee and Douglas down by the border before looping back northeastward again.

Similarily, 84 ran northwestward from Tucson to Casa Grande and then turned due west to Gila Bend (just as I-10 and I-8 do today) while 80 took a much more leisurely routing north and then west through Florence, Mesa, Phoenix, and Buckeye before heading southward to Gila Bend.

I have a feeling that this original alignment of 86 between Benson and Willcox was always intended as temporary, since it was bypassed only a half dozen years or so after the route was first established. Also, I'm sure that getting the highway out of the dry lake bed (Willcox Playa) was a priority, since even though the Playa is dry 99% of the time, that other 1% can be problematic!

Edited by mga707
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That dirt section took me back to 2001 and Montana. A friend of mine, who, at the time, lived in Miles City, Montana, and I went to the Hudson car club national in Seattle. On our way home Cloyd took me up thru Great Falls and Fort Benton, finally winding up on a dirt road that took us to Ingomar. And when I say dirt (gravel) road - I'm talking 1910 version!!!!!!!!! LOL :D Cloyd showed me parts of Montana most tourists never see.

 

Cloyd recently passed away, so I thank you for that shot that brought back the memory of our trip thru the back roads of Montana.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

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That dirt section took me back to 2001 and Montana. A friend of mine, who, at the time, lived in Miles City, Montana, and I went to the Hudson car club national in Seattle. On our way home Cloyd took me up thru Great Falls and Fort Benton, finally winding up on a dirt road that took us to Ingomar. And when I say dirt (gravel) road - I'm talking 1910 version!!!!!!!!! LOL :D Cloyd showed me parts of Montana most tourists never see.

 

Cloyd recently passed away, so I thank you for that shot that brought back the memory of our trip thru the back roads of Montana.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

 

Warning! Thread creep!

 

Alex, your Montana backroads trip brought back memories of my own! In summer '06 my travel companion and I did a big fly/drive upper Great Plains trip starting/ending at DEN.

This was the trip in which I finally bagged states 49 and 50 (SD and ND--all 50 before I turned 50!), but I digress even further...

Anyway, in order to get from Teddy Roosevelt NP in ND down to Devil's Tower NM, WY, via the quickest route, we drove through extreme SE Montana, and spent the night in Ekalaka, pop. under 500, county seat (and only real town in) Carter County! Accomodations at Ekalaka's only motel were OK, but Spartan, and the following morning we strolled through the town (doesn't take long!) and had a good breakfast at the town's cafe, operated by a San Diego 'refugee'!

Following breakfast, we stopped in at the Carter County Museum, which is simply amazing for such a tiny town! They have a fossil collection which would not be out of place at a big city natural history museum, such as the one in Denver. They have a nearly complete duck-billed dinosaur skeleton, along with lots of smaller fossil exhibits, and much more area history packed into the little museum. Doesn't hurt that Carter County is in the heart of one of North America's prime fossil areas, where any amateur palentologist can stumble upon something without too much effort. Still, the museum was an unexpected treat.

Leaving Ekalaka heading south toward US212 at the MT/WY border, one leaves Montana Route 7 and is traveling on a county road which soon turns to gravel for most of the distance.

Just like your experience: Gravel road, nobody else around, miles and miles of rolling grassland interspersed with wooded ridges (Black Hills outliers)...it was great! I love Montana!

Edited by mga707
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Warning! Thread creep!

 

Alex, your Montana backroads trip brought back memories of my own! In summer '06 my travel companion and I did a big fly/drive upper Great Plains trip starting/ending at DEN.

This was the trip in which I finally bagged states 49 and 50 (SD and ND--all 50 before I turned 50!), but i digress even further...

Anyway, in order to get from Teddy Roosevelt NP in ND down to Devil's Tower NM, WY, via the quickest route, we drove through extreme SE Montana, and spent the night in Ekalaka, pop. under 500, county seat (and only real town in) Carter County! Accomodations at Ekalaka's only motel were OK, but Spartan, and the following morning we strolled through the town (doesn't take long!) and had a good breakfast at the town's cafe, operated by a San Diego 'refugee'!

Following breakfast, we stopped in at the Carter County Museum, which is simply amazing for such a tiny town! They have a fossil collection which would not be out of place at a big city natural history museum, such as the one in Denver. They have a nearly complete duck-billed dinosaur skeleton, along with lots of smaller fossil exhibits, and much more area history packed into the little museum. Doesn't hurt that Carter County is in the heart of one of North America's prime fossil areas, where any amateur palentologist can stumble upon something without too much effort. Still, the museum was an unexpected treat.

Leaving Ekalaka heading south toward US212 at the MT/WY border, one leaves Montana Route 7 and is traveling on a county road which soon turns to gravel for most of the distance.

Just like your experience: Gravel road, nobody else around, miles and miles of rolling grassland interspersed with wooded ridges (Black hills outliers)...it was great! I love Montana!

 

mga707,

 

Thread creep is OK by me. I like the side trips! And, after all, it was your topic to begin with. :rolleyes::)

 

I looked Ekalaka up on Delorme, and that is one "out of the way" place. I am amazed they had a motel. :o

 

Sweet experience, and why we love the two laners!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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