Arizona transportation

HighwaysTucson (including an exit serving the historic Mission
Main interstate routes include I-17, and I-19 runningSan Xavier) and the retirement community of Green
north-south, I-40, I-8, and I-10 running east-west, and aValley and terminates in Nogales, in Santa Cruz
short stretch of I-15 running northeast/southwestCounty, at the international border with Mexico.
through the extreme northwestern corner of the state.Destination signs on I-19 have metric distance figures in
Phoenixkilometers instead of standard miles. Arizona 77
Phoenix is served by a network of freeways, many ofserves North Tucson and Tucson's northern suburbs
which were initiated by a 1 cent general sales taxincluding Casas Adobes, Catalina Foothills, Oro Valley,
measure approved by voters in 1985. Before thisand Catalina. Arizona 77 continues northward until it
network, I-10 and I-17 handled almost all freeway trafficterminates at the Navajo Indian Reservation in
in Phoenix, placing a large burden on surface arterialnortheastern Arizona.
streets, leading to increased traffic congestion as theState Route 210 (Barraza-Aviation Parkway) is a
area grew in size.limited-access parkway built in the early 1990s to
I-10 (the Maricopa and Papago Freeways) from Losconnect downtown Tucson to the southeastern
Angeles travels from the west through downtown, andportion of the city. Few new limited-access roads are
exits the metro area in a southeast direction towardin the plans in Tucson due to strong community
Tucson. I-17 (the Black Canyon Freeway) begins inopposition to freeways.
downtown Phoenix and travels north to Flagstaff. USYuma, Flagstaff & Casa Grande
60 also travels through the heart of the city, starting inYuma and Casa Grande are served by I-8; Flagstaff is
downtown Phoenix, and heading northwest throughserved by I-17 and I-40. US Highway 95 parallels the
the suburbs of Glendale, Peoria, and Surprise. To theColorado River, from Las Vegas to the Mexican
east, it is called the Superstition Freeway, and from itsborder near Yuma.
beginning in Tempe, travels eastward towards Mesa,Historic U.S. Route 66, a major route for Midwestern
Gilbert, and Apache Junction, and beyond. State Routeemigrants prior to the advent of the interstate highway
Loop 101 (called the Agua Fria, Price, or Pima Freeway,system, traversed the northern part of the state,
depending on the segment) is also a major highwaypassing through Flagstaff and Kingman. Route 66 in
that forms a semicircle around the northern suburbs ofArizona closely followed the route of what is now
the city, starting from I-10 in the west and travellingInterstate 40 except for an 88 mile stretch between
around to the Santan portion of Loop 202 in theSeligman and Kingman now known as Arizona State
southeast.Highway 66, where the route veered to the north
The new freeways started after the 1985 sales taxpassing through Peach Springs.
approval are: Arizona 51, Loop 101, Arizona 143 (thePublic transportation and intercity bus
Hohokam Expressway), Arizona 153 (the Sky HarborThe Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas are
Expressway), Loop 202 (the Red Mountain andserved by public bus transit systems. Yuma and
Santan Freeways), and Loop 303 (the EstrellaFlagstaff also have public bus systems. Greyhound
Freeway), and the final section of I-10. Most of theseLines serves Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma, and
have been completed by 2005, with Loop 202 andseveral smaller communities statewide.
Loop 303 being in the final stages of construction andA light rail system is currently being built in Phoenix.
development.When completed, it will connect Central Phoenix with
Arizona 51 (the Piestewa Freeway) connectsthe nearby cities of Mesa and Tempe. The system is
downtown and central Phoenix with north Phoenix andprojected to be operational by December of 2008.
Paradise Valley, and connects with theIn May 2006, voters in Tucson approved a Regional
aforementioned Loop 101 at its northern end.Transportation Plan (a comprehensive bus transit
Two-thirds of this route was opened in 1999 and thestreetcar/roadway improvement program), and its
remainder in 2003. It had been known as the Squawfunding via a new half-cent sales tax increment. The
Peak Parkway (for a nearby mountain), but this namecenterpiece of the plan is a light rail streetcar system
was considered offensive to those in the Nativethat will connect the main University of Arizona
American community. Both the road and the mountaincampus with the Rio Nuevo master plan area on the
were re-named in the spring of 2003 for US Armywestern edge of downtown.
Pfc. Lori Piestewa, a member of the Hopi tribe, the firstAviation
woman to die in combat during the current Iraq WarAirports with regularly scheduled commercial flights
and the first Native American woman to die in combatinclude: Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (IATA:
while in the US Army. This resulted in the freewayPHX, ICAO: KPHX) in Phoenix (the largest airport and
being referred to as "The 51" instead of "Squaw Peakthe major international airport in the state); Tucson
Parkway" in casual conversation.International Airport (IATA: TUS, ICAO: KTUS) in
As recently as 1959, many roads such as StateTucson; Yuma International Airport (IATA: YUM, ICAO:
Highway 87, the Beeline Highway between PhoenixKYUM) in Yuma; Prescott Municipal Airport (PRC) in
and the small community of Payson in Gila County,Prescott; and Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (IATA: FLG,
were unpaved.ICAO: KFLG) in Flagstaff.
TucsonOther significant airports without regularly scheduled
The Tucson metropolitan area is primarily served bycommercial flights include Williams Gateway Airport
I-10, I-19 and Arizona 77. I-19 departs from I-10 in the(IWA) in Mesa, and Scottsdale Municipal Airport (IATA:
southern part of Tucson, runs through southernSCF, ICAO: KSDL) in Scottsdale.