End of historic US highway 260 |
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Summa
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At its maximum extent, US 260 measured approx. 290 miles in total length.
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c. 1935, AZ DoT
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In the original 1926 route plan, it was US 70 that began at US 66 in Holbrook and headed east. But in 1932, US 70 was drastically rerouted, far to the south of Holbrook. So US 260 was commissioned to replace the former US 70 starting at Holbrook.
Originally the east end of US 260 was in Springerville, at the junction with its implied "parent" route, US 60. During this timeframe, however, US 60's current route between Springerville and Globe was under construction and not yet open to traffic. So from Globe, US 60 traffic was directed along what must have been an incredibly hellish road back in the 1930s: west to San Carlos; north and west to Ft. Apache; north along today's AZ hwy. 73 to McNary; and west along today's AZ 260 to Eagar. In Eagar, US 60 was directed north on Mountain Avenue, until reaching the junction with Main Street Springerville:
There, eastbound US 60 traffic was directed to the right on Main, but to the left was the east beginning of US 260.
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US 260 went through St. Johns on its way to US 66 at Holbrook. These photos show the perspective at the historic east end of US 260, looking east on Main. Straight ahead was eastbound US 60, while westbound was to the right on Mountain:
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Faye and Sandy, Mar. 2007
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Faye and Sandy, Mar. 2007
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Today Main carries US 60-180-191, but they neglected to sign US 191 on that post. After modern US 60 was complete between there and Globe, old US 60 (to the right on Mountain) was signed as AZ 260. But today mainline AZ 260 is signed along Central Avenue in Eagar, the junction with which is about 1.5 miles to the right.
c. 1937, NM DoT
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This image was taken looking west on Spruce. Originally US 70-80 traffic was directed to use Spruce through town. So Deming's first US 260 terminus was to the right on Gold...
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...but at some point, US 70-80 traffic was moved to Pine Street, which runs one block to the north (right). The photo from this old postcard was taken looking east on Pine, back when US 260 began to the left on Gold:
attribution unknown
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In the early 1960s, the US 180 designation was extended west from its former terminus in El Paso. It was (and still is) overlapped with other routes along the entire distance between El Paso and Deming. Then the designation heads north out of Deming -- it goes all the way up to Holbrook, and then beyond (to the Grand Canyon), so that is how the US 260 designation became unnecessary and was eliminated. These more recent shots were looking the same direction:
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Hamilton, Aug. 2000
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Karners, Dec. 2011
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The rationale for that change is unclear: the El Paso-to-Deming corridor already had a route number, so what was the purpose in having US 180 make a sharp change in direction at El Paso just to get to Deming, over 100 miles distant? Would it not have made more sense to simply extend the US 260 designation west from Holbrook to the Grand Canyon? Maybe AASHTO wanted to conserve route numbers... but US 260 has never been recycled. Or maybe Arizona wanted the number "260" for one of its state routes... but they could have come up with an equally valid number.
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At any rate, these photos were looking the opposite direction (west on Pine). Today that is westbound US 70 (and also US 180 and Business I-10); US 260 began to the right:
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Faye and Sandy, Apr. 2006
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Sanderson, Mar. 2016
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Research and/or photo credits: Nathan Edgars; Alan Hamilton; Karin and Martin Karner; Russell Lee; Mike Roberson; Dale Sanderson; Faye and Sandy; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2004;
last updated Jul. 12, 2020.
last updated Jul. 12, 2020.
