End of US highway 163 |
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1970-1983
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1983-1985
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1985-present
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US 163 is a misnumbered highway, as it cannot be considered a branch of US 63. There was no excuse when it was commissioned in 1970: there were other possibilities that would have made more sense (some examples and more thoughts on the anomalies page). More recent maps might lead to speculation that US 163 took its number from UT hwy. 163 (which formerly headed east from Bluff), but that designation did not exist back when US 163 was assigned.
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Annoying number notwithstanding, US 163 makes for a very scenic drive; breathtaking scenery abounds along nearly the entire route. The south end of US 163 has always been in Kayenta, which is on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona:
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Sanderson, July 2004
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Dienhart, May 2017
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US 163 terminates at its junction with US 160; travelers making a right at that intersection are heading southwest toward Tuba City. Drivers turning left will be on their way to the Four Corners monument, where AZ, NM, CO, and UT meet. Straight ahead is southbound on Navajo hwy. 591, which is indicated on some of the following photos. This first group was from eastbound US 160:
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Sanderson, July 2004
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Summa, 1988
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Church Rock is visible in the distance. In that second photo, the AZ 163 sign was erroneous; they had it correct heading the opposite direction:
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Summa, 1988
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Sanderson, July 2004
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Those are looking towards Marsh Pass, which is where 160 crosses from the San Juan basin to the Little Colorado watershed. If a traveler turns to the right, they are at the south beginning of US 163, and they will soon see the first northbound confirming marker:
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Kasprzyk, Mar. 2009
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Kasprzyk, Mar. 2009
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Visible in the background of that second photo is the prominence known as Agathla Peak. From that junction, it is about 20 miles to the Utah line, and then another 45 miles to US 163's northern terminus at Bluff.
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But when it was first commissioned in 1970, the US 163 designation continued north of Bluff along present-day US 191, all the way up to Crescent Junction. However, Utah seems to be notorious for making unilateral decisions about its national routes (see also US 189): although AASHTO never formally decommissioned any part of US 163 until 2008, UDoT removed the signs north of Monticello in 1983, and then north of Bluff in 1985. US 163 has a junction with US 191 a few miles southwest of Bluff. UDoT has officially considered this junction to be the north end of US 163 for quite some time (based on the legislative description of the route). However, it was not until 2004 that they got around to making their signage agree with their records. Now things are pretty straightforward; this shot was looking north on US 163:
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Elbert, July 2005
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That "End" sign was not yet there just one year before that photo was taken. But this assembly at the actual junction was:
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Hamilton, Sep. 2003
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The mainline ahead is northbound US 191. Bluff is about four miles in the distance; it sits at the foot of that, um... bluff at far left. Here we are looking north on US 191:
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Sanderson, July 2004
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US 163 begins to the left. Here is the view heading the opposite direction (south on US 191):
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Salek, Sep. 2011
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To continue south on US 191, travelers must make a left turn; straight ahead is the north beginning of US 163. The sign in the distance has some interesting control destinations:
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Sanderson, July 2004
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The sign at bottom says "Trail of the Ancients". This photo shows the signage just beyond that, at the physical junction:
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Sanderson, July 2004
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None of these signs leave any question as to where US 163 begins. But right about the same time UDoT finally cleared up the signage issues around Bluff, their official state highway map was changed, such that it did not match the signposting on this road:
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c. 2005, UDoT
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That showed US 163 overlapped with US 191 all the way up to I-70 at Crescent Jct... which is kind of ironic, because that change happened right around the same time that AASHTO officially decommissioned that segment of US 163. It is unlikely that UDoT suddenly cares what AASHTO thinks, but it is perplexing to imagine what prompted that change on the map.
Incidentally, the original US 163 in Iowa was a legitimately-numbered branch of US 63. |
Research and/or photo credits: Paul Dienhart; Chris Elbert; Alan Hamilton; Bruce Kasprzyk; Matt Salek; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 1999;
last updated Apr. 6, 2018.
last updated Apr. 6, 2018.
