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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
Endpoints of
1965-1970
East: Cortez, CO
West: near Tuba City, AZ
US 164 was 198 miles in length.
US 160 originally went northwest out of Cortez. The segment of modern US 160 between Towaoc CO (south of Cortez) and Teec Nos Pos AZ was not completed until about 1962. (Before that, the only access to the Four Corners monument was via a primitive road heading north from Teec Nos Pos.) When that highway was opened to traffic, the segment that branched off US 666 near Towaoc was originally marked as state hwy. 40. The road passed through the very northwest tip of New Mexico and then into Arizona as SH 364. It connected at Teec Nos Pos to AZ 64 (which itself had only recently been paved). So it is clear why those three state DoTs wanted to unify their new route with a single designation. In 1965, it was assigned the designation US 164 (that was the second time that route number had been used; more info on the US 164[i] page). This photo was taken during that timeframe in Teec Nos Pos:
Lindsay, 1970
That was looking south on what is now westbound US 160, but at the time was westbound US 164, which continued to the right. (Today the west beginning of US 64 is to the left, and a more recent photo from that same perspective can be seen on the US 64 page). However, US 164 was very short-lived: in 1970, when US 160 was rerouted to go southwest out of Cortez, it swallowed up the entire standalone section of US 164, so that designation became superfluous and was decommissioned. Photos and more info can be found on the Cortez and Tuba City pages.
Research and/or image credits: Jim Lindsay; Dale Sanderson
Page originally created 2004;last updated Jun. 12, 2025.
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