U.S. Route 89A

U.S. Route 89A marker

U.S. Route 89A
Route information
Auxiliary route of US 89
Length: 92 mi[1] (148 km)
Existed: 1960 – present
Major junctions
South end: US 89 in Bitter Springs, AZ
  SR 67 in Jacob Lake, AZ
SR 389 in Fredonia, AZ
North end: US-89 in Kanab, UT
Highway system
Navajo Bridge along US 89A
US 89A near Navajo Bridge

U.S. Route 89A is a northsouth auxiliary U.S. highway, though its actual direction of travel is more eastwest. The highway is an old routing of U.S. Route 89 from Bitter Springs, Arizona to Kanab, Utah. The state of Arizona has designated this highway the Fredonia-Vermilion Cliffs Scenic Road.[2] The highway is used to access Grand Canyon National Park and is known for the Navajo Bridge. Until 2008, the Utah portion was signed State Route 11.

Route description

The highway's southern terminus is at U.S. Route 89 south of Page, Arizona. Its northern terminus is in Kanab, Utah, also as US 89. US 89A runs near or through Lee's Ferry, the Navajo Bridge, Vermilion Cliffs, the Kaibab Plateau, and Fredonia, Arizona. The eastern portion of the highway runs through part of the Navajo Nation. From Jacob Lake, State Route 67 leads south to the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, then north to the neighboring cities of Fredonia, Arizona and Kanab, Utah. The Utah portion of US 89A is defined by Utah Code Annotated §72-4-114.[3]

History

This was part of mainline US 89 until the construction of Glen Canyon Dam. In 1960, US 89 was moved to a new, more northerly route and the old route became US 89A.

View of the Navajo Bridge from the Colorado River.
Stone House at the Vermilion Cliffs, near Cliff Dwellers Lodge, Arizona. Around 1927, Blanche Russell's car broke down near here. She liked the area, bought the property and built this house in the 1930s.

The Utah segment of US 89A was first commissioned State Route 11. This highway ran from Nephi to the Arizona state line near Kanab. This route is still drivable as the modern US 89A, US 89, and SR-132. With the establishment of the United States highway system in 1926, most of SR-11 was used for the routing of US 89 through southern Utah; the internal designation used by state agencies remained SR-11.[4] In 1969, as part of a series of changes to state routes, the portion north of Sevier Junction (I-70 and US 89 near Joseph) was transferred to other routes, removing the only part of State Route 11 that was signed with the state designation. It is also during this time that that a new alignment for US 89 was constructed to serve the Glen Canyon Dam, with SR-11 being now signed as US 89A south of Kanab and US 89 to the north. As part of the 1977 Utah state route renumbering to conform signage and legislative definitions, SR-11 was truncated to what is now signed US 89A.[4] The route was signed SR-11, with "TO US 89A" at the northern terminus in Kanab and a "TO US 89" at the Arizona state line. In 2008, however, SR-11 was deleted after a bill in the Utah legislature was passed to restore U.S. Route 89A in Utah.[5]

From 1941 to 1992, there was a discontinuous southern portion US 89A running from Flagstaff to Prescott, Arizona, now designated Arizona State Route 89A.

Junction list

StateCountyLocation[6]mi[7][8]kmDestinationsNotes
ArizonaCoconinoBitter Springs0.000.00 US 89 PageMilepost 524
Jacob Lake55.2388.88 SR 67 North Rim, Grand Canyon National ParkMilepost 579
Fredonia85.07136.91 SR 389 Colorado CityMilepost 609
 88.88
0.000
143.04
0.000
Arizona–Utah state line
UtahKaneKanab2.9454.740 US-89 Panguitch, Page
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. Summing AZ and UT Milage logs used as sources in the Major intersections section
  2. "Scenic Roads". Arizona Department of Transportation.
  3. State of Utah. "Utah Code". Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  4. 1 2 "Highway Resolutions - Route 11" (pdf). Utah Department of Transportation. September 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
  5. "H.B. 61 Bill Documents - 2008 General Session". State of Utah.
  6. Utah Road and Recreation Atlas (Map). 1:170000. Benchmark Maps. 2002. p. 82. § G3. ISBN 0-929591-74-7.
  7. "Highway Reference Information - Route 11" (pdf). Utah Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
  8. Arizona Department of Transportation. "2006 ADOT Highway Log" (PDF). Archived from the original (pdf) on 2008-06-25. Retrieved 2008-04-09.

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

Browse numbered routes
SR 8989ASR 89A
SR-1011SR-12
US-8989ASR-90
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, November 03, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.