Forgotten Hwy's video: AZ 187 South - From AZ 87 near Sacaton to I-10

AZ 187 is a relatively well-forgotten highway. It's purpose is minuscule: to connect I-10 to AZ 87 further north than AZ 387 does. It runs entirely through the Gila River Indian Community, ending just north of Casa Grande at an awkward three-way junction with AZ 387 and I-10. AZ 187 was established in 1927 as one of the earliest state highways in Arizona. Originally AZ 87 was proposed to take the route down to Casa Grande, was even defined as such in a 1926 map from the State of Arizona, but this was changed after less than a year. Arizona opted to follow a numbering system similar to the recently created US-highway system, including three-digit 'child' routes. Being the first major renumbering or realignment of a state highway, it was fitting that it was given the number of 187. Between 1948 and 1951, the state established AZ 387, a more direct route between Casa Grande and Phoenix. Instead of traffic being sent northeast past Sacaton to double back on it's approach to Chandler, it instead branched off AZ 187 north of Casa Grande and connected straight to AZ 87 as it entered Chandler. After the completion of I-10 in the area, AZ 93 became redundant between Casa Blanca Rd and north Casa Grande, leading ADOT to relinquish it back to Gila River in 1972 and co-route it from the Casa Blanca Rd exit on I-10 to Casa Grande. Legally this left a gap in the route between the old split of about half a mile between the I-10 interchange with AZ 187 and the old AZ 187/93 interchange. This hole was patched the following year. The purpose of AZ 93 was to provide a continuous route number from Nogales north and hopefully convince the federal government to adopt it as part of the US Highway System. With the rise of the Interstate system, however, this became a redundant issue. After being granted the extension from Kingman to Wickenburg, ADOT threw in the towel and scrapped AZ 93 in 1984 Further, at some point in the 1960s, ADOT deleted the original AZ 387 as it was multiplexed with AZ 93 for it's entire route and adopted a new route connecting AZ 187 to AZ 87 near Coolidge, north of the soon-to-be Interstate 10. This new route took AZ 387 as it's number. ADOT also seemed to kill the AZ 187 multiplex at some point as well. When AZ 93 was deleted and it's old segment's renumbered, ADOT opted to extend not AZ 187 back into Casa Grande - the logical choice as that route was AZ 187 long before 387 existed and connected directly to it. Instead, ADOT truncated AZ 187 back further to the modern junction with AZ 387 and extended 387 into Casa Grande. This leads to a weird intersection just north of I-10 where AZ 387 traffic must turn right to stay on 387 or continue straight to take AZ 187. It makes zero sense and ADOT should be ashamed of this mistake. Nowadays however, it doesn't seem to matter. AZ 387 north of I-10 and AZ 187 are only ever used as back-up routes for Casa Grande traffic in the case of problems on I-10. AZ 387 south of I-10 has become Pinal Ave, a major north/south corridor in the city of Casa Grande and changing it's number now would create more havoc. As far as the segment of AZ 93 from Chandler to I-10 at Casa Blanca Rd, that segment later became another child route of AZ 87: AZ 587. 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 Music: