Forgotten Hwy's video: US 191 Historic US 666 North - The Devil s Highway - Safford to Clifton Morenci AZ

Now that we've completed US 66 in California, lets go back to it's former child route: US 666! Today we traverse US 191 from Safford where we left off at the T- junction with US 70 - Safford's main thoroughfare - to it's split east of town, where US 70 heads further east to Lordsburg and US 191 turns north to reach Clifton. We also get to see the terminus of some of US 666's old routings, as well as US 70s and even US 180 before it. US 191 gets it's nickname from it's predecessor: US 666. US 666 was originally a minor 135-mile highway running from Gallup, NM to Cortez, CO, established in 1926 with the initial signing of US Highways. It became the 6th child route of infamous US 66, which served as it's southern terminus in Gallup. It was given this number since all the odd-numbered (indicative of a N/S routing) child routes that would have fit in the system were taken. US 666 saw it's first of two extensions in 1938, when it was extended south and west into Arizona, co-routing with it's parent to the town of Sanders, where it dipped south. This road remained dirt when it met and joined existing SR 61 to continue south to Saint Johns where SR 61 ended and US 666 met US 260. They continued south together, meeting with and joining US 60 itself just before Springerville. Just past Springerville, US 60 spilt off to head east into New Mexico while US 260 and US 666 continued to south to Alpine where US 260 split as well to head towards Silver City, NM. US 666 then followed the Coronado Trail, one of the most scenic and beautiful routes in western America. It passed through Morenci and Clifton, ultimately coming to a T-junction with US 70 just east of Safford. From there, US 666 co-routed with US 70 into Safford, then split off to head south where it met SR 86 between Bowie and Wilcox. It again co-routed, this time with SR 86, to the town of Cochise. There, SR 86 split to head to Benson where it met with US 80 and US 666 continued on a slightly meandering path to end at then US 80 immediately west of Douglas. The route from Springerville/Eager to Safford was originally SR 71, established in 1927. The segment from Safford to Douglas was originally SR 81, established the same year. In 1936, SR 71 was deleted and SR 81 was rerouted up to Springerville, ultimately extending along SR 61 to Sanders. Two years later this was transferred to US 666. In the 1960s, as mining activity continued to expand at Morenci, Freeport McMoRan approached the state with an offer. Since the new mine extension would swallow the road, and ADOT had been wanting to realign US 666, they would set up a new temporary alignment by connecting a bunch of old mine roads to serve in the interim while the new road was built. This new alignment would have moved US 666 much further east, roughly following the San Francisco and Blue Rivers before cutting diagonally to met the current alignment near Milepost 195, just south of Four Bar Mesa. ADOT began construction on the 'first' 8 miles in 1968, most of which was just compressed dirt. Arizona ran into budgetary issues in the late 60s and 70s, plus the rough terrain of the new alignment made them go back to the drawing board. This caused a pause in construction that lasted until 1997 when the plan was finally dropped. This route took Zorrilla St to Frisco Ave (this presumably would've been changed as the project neared completion), Frisco Ave to the bridge over the San Francisco, where the dirt road picks up as San Francisco River Rd until its abrupt end. Part of the original road through Morenci exists. Before the switch back from Clifton to Morenci, a road starts snaking up to the mine as an access road. This is old US 666, as pointed out in the video. This road was officially closed in 1972, given to the mining company. In 1992 Arizona requested a new number for US 666 in the state, asking for it to become part of US 191 for continuity and partly because the signs were very commonly stolen. At this time, US 191 was relatively new to the state having just been extended 11 years prior from Yosemite National Park as part of making US 191 into a 'National Parks Highway'. It was brought south to Chambers, AZ where it ended at I-40. The proposal was to have it multiplex I-40 to Sanders, then replace US 666 from Sanders to Douglas. The request was approved and US 666 was dealt it's first blow. In 2003, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, asked for a similar change, proposing that US 666 be deleted in it's entirety in favor of US 491. This was approved as well, making US 666 the most recent decommissioned US highway in America. Thanks for watching! Follow and Support Me: Website: forgottenhwy.com Twitter: http://bit.ly/hwytweet Instagram: http://bit.ly/hwyinsta Facebook: http://bit.ly/hwyfacebook Patreon: http://bit.ly/hwypatreon