Route 70 endures ‘truncation’ of western end point

Originally, U.S. Route 70 went all the way to the West Coast in Los Angeles, Calif., but the highway was truncated in 1963 at Blythe, Calif., about 225 miles east of Los Angeles. Blythe sits on the Colorado River bordering Arizona.

The recommendation to shorten Route 70 came from the California Division of Highways, as it planned to remove older U.S. highway designations in favor of the new Interstate Highway System (specifically I-10). The American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) gave its approval.

 

Because U.S. 70 shared its entire California alignment with other routes (primarily paired with U.S. 60) and never had a stretch of road to itself in the state, “it was the first redundant designation to be eliminated.”

Blythe offers a multitude of Colorado River recreational opportunities.

Then in 1969, Route 70 was truncated once again, as another 252 miles between Blythe and Globe, Ariz. (east of Phoenix) were lopped off.

This stretch of Route 70 had been entirely co-signed with Route 60, so the Arizona Department of Transportation and AASHO deemed the “overlapping concurrency unnecessary,” rolling back the western terminus of Route 70 to Globe. 

Hence, Globe is now the official “end of the road” for Route 70.

 

With an average elevation of about 3,510 feet, Globe is in the foothills of the Pinal Mountains. The highest peak in the range measures about 7,848 feet.

Globe took its name from a prospector who found a globe-shaped nugget of pure silver nearby.

The local chamber of commerce says: “Globe was a Wild West frontier town with gunfights, stagecoach robberies, saloons and all the rest.” Six Shooter Canyon was a dangerous place to travel.

Mining interests turned from silver to copper ore, as the region around Globe holds some of the largest copper reserves in the entire United States. 

Presently, about 7,175 people reside in Globe.

Today, Route 70 through Arizona and New Mexico is branded as “The Old West Highway.” It’s an effort to highlight the road’s rich frontier heritage associated with the American Southwest.

 

One important chapter of that story relates to Route 70’s “12 ghost miles.”

Writing for the Gila Herald, an online news source in Safford, Ariz., local historian Robert VanBuhler playfully revealed that between Bylas and Safford (near the small community of Fort Thomas) the mileposts “adjust” from 314 to 326 as you head eastbound on Route 70 and decrease from 326 to 314 for westbound motorists.

 

VanBuhler likened the drive-by experience to “being in the twilight zone.” Did someone forget to order 315 to 325, or were they misplaced? Did the road crew leave them out as a prank?

 

He checked with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) for an explanation and was told that “the mystery gap” is called an “equation” and not a mistake.

“The milepost markers needed to correct the mileage to the New Mexico border,” VanBuhler wrote.

 

ADOT’s communications officer explained that U.S. 70 initially followed the old Gila River Trail, which was used by wagons and railroads in the 1800s.

The location of the highway was later affected by construction of Coolidge Dam at the Gila River in 1930 to create San Carlos Lake on the San Carlos Apache Reservation.

 

“After Coolidge Dam, the route of the highway was adjusted to lead to the new man-made lake,” the ADOT spokesperson said. (Old postcards show vehicles on the roadway passing over the top of the dam.)

 

In 1956, U.S. 70 was readjusted back to the original – and 12 miles shorter – route. ADOT figured the best solution was to remove 12 mileposts in a remote section of the highway, “rather than go to the expense of changing all the mile markers” going east and west.