October is the perfect time of year to dive into our archives and delve into The Devil’s Highway, the former US 666, which traveled through several states in the Southwest, including Arizona.

In Arizona, US 666 traveled from Douglas to US 66 in Sanders. That’s significant because US 666 got its name simply by being the sixth designated offshoot of Route 66. If you travel on this roadway today, you’re driving on US 191. But how did US 666 get its name and why did it change?

According to the May 1934 issue of Arizona Highways Magazine, several local leaders petitioned the "Highway Commissioner to draw a resolution to the National Association of State Highway Engineers asking them to designate that section of highway from the Arizona-New Mexico Line West to Zuni Indian Village of New Mexico via., St. Johns, Springerville, Clifton, Safford, and other important points on the Coronado Trail… as U. S. Highway 666.” Thus began decades of urban legends about a haunted highway and its eerie experiences. The number 666, of course, is associated with the devil by some.

One tale tells of a mysterious girl in a white dress, who walks the desolate desert road alone. When motorists stop to offer help, she vanishes.On the more paranormal side of things, stories of Skinwalkers persisted along US 666. They would first appear as animals on the highway, causing motorists to swerve and crash. If that didn’t work, they’d simply appear in the backseat. Pleasant, right?

Packs of demon dogs with glowing yellow eyes and sharp, jagged teeth. UFOs appearing in the night sky. Reports of drivers losing their sense of time and appearing on the road again days later. Myths and stories like these lingered on for years while highway shields displaying “666” dotted the highway’s path.

After years of negative connotations and a high rate of sign theft, US 666 was officially decommissioned nationwide in 2003, though US 666 has been called US 191 in Arizona since 1992.

Have you ever driven the Devil’s Highway? Got any spooky tales to share? Let us know!

Similarly to how artwork adorns the walls of museums, artwork also adorns the walls, bridges and columns of Arizona’s highways.

Often created by local artists and inspired by the communities and agriculture of the surrounding areas, the artwork tells the story of Arizona’s cities and towns. And it’s not just aesthetically pleasing, the artwork serves a purpose. It breaks up the monotony of blank highway walls, actually helping people focus better on the roadway.

From rock art to concrete murals and mosaic tiles, there is an endless amount of beauty to see on your commute or road trip. Here are just some examples of the beautiful artwork you can see along Arizona’s highways:

SR 84 Historic Casa Grande Underpass Mosaic

This artwork was created by the Casa Grande Mosaic Creative Communities Team, which was awarded a grant for the project from Arizona Commission on the Arts and Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

The three mosaics were part of an effort to revitalize Union Pacific Railroad underpass, which welcomes drivers to Casa Grande. They are said to represent the town’s past, present and future, with some tiles made by members of the community and featuring handprints from local children. 

Loop 101 Pima in Scottsdale

The lizard murals on the columns of the Loop 101 overpass in Scottsdale were created by a design team that included local landscape architect Jeff Engelmann, Colorado-based artist Carolyn Braaksma, and local architect Andrea Forman. 

The design team consulted with museum curators, botanical garden staff and the community to create the lizard as part of a desert theme. The team was assembled by the City of Scottsdale, which proposed and funded the project to add this and other public artwork along the highway.

“Renowned for its thriving arts community, the City of Scottsdale was anxious to preserve its artistic reputation and minimize the impact of the $131 million project on citizens and visitors,” according to a USDOT blog.

Interstate 19 at Ajo Way in Tucson

The blue mountains that came to be during the I-19 improvement project were designed to mirror the natural landscape of the area, which is especially evident in the picture to the right with the real thing towering over the mural. 

There are also other murals nearby along I-19 depicting birds, butterflies and saguaros in the same bold blue color, creating an intentionally cohesive aesthetic. 

Loop 101 Pima at Cave Creek Road

This mural of a Hohokam coiled snake petroglyph was inspired by the rattlesnakes that live in the area, according to Joe Salazar, ADOT Project Team Leader for Landscape Architecture and Aesthetics. 

Along with this picture on the soundwall at Cave Creek, this little guy can be found in the area, along with other red murals depicting birds, lizards and cactuses to reflect the area's archaeological history and wildlife.

“The inspiration is there in the desert, but there are also rattlesnakes in the area,” Salazar said. “There are some trails that go up along the mountainside. It can also be an informational icon just letting people know what the reptile wildlife is in the area.”

State Route 189 Columns 

ADOT’s roadside development team studied the cultural and historical context of the Nogales Port of Entry area and learned that SR 189 is also known as Mariposa (Spanish for butterfly). Thus, the design was born.

“It represents movement and transportation, which ties in with the busy Nogales Port of Entry that has a lot of trade going back and forth,” Joseph Salazar, the project aesthetic manager, said. You can read more about it here.

I-10 Jimmie Kerr Bridge in Casa Grande

After studying the region’s history, culture, flora and fauna, the design team — which included ADOT Roadside Development along with Grace Engineering and Wheat Design Group — was inspired by ancient Hohokam culture and the pottery vessels the Hohokam would use to transport and store water to create these matching murals.

I-10 and I-19 Traffic Interchange in Tucson

The colorful designs on these columns feature depictions of sunflowers, vines, corn, squash and beans, representing the agricultural history of the area.

ADOT staff developed the project themes in conjunction with the local landscape architecture firm Wheat Design Group (formerly Wheat Scharf Associates) and local residents.

Loop 303 and Interstate 10 Interchange 

This and similar rock designs, called landform graphics, were developed by Joseph Salazar, who is ADOT’s landscape architectural project design manager for the Roadside Development section.

Salazar, who has been at ADOT for more that 30 years and recently won a lifetime achievement award for his design work, came up with the idea when he wanted to create something visually pleasing but had limited resources. 

Rock landscaping, which uses different colored crushed granite to create designs, is cost effective and requires very little upkeep compared to some plants. And on top of all that, it also helps control erosion and dust, making it a very practical and sustainable artform. 

A lizard at the Loop 303 and I-10 interchange is pictured here, but you can also see this innovative method implemented along other portions of highway in the Valley, including where it was first used, on SR 143 heading toward Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

Loop 202 South Mountain Underpass at Southern

The design on these columns were created by ADOT’s Joseph Salazar and the Cosanti Foundation, which took inspiration from Arcosanti founder Paolo Soleri’s work and the area's agricultural heritage. It was referred to as the Leaf Portal Pattern, according to records, because the circles represent “portals into the future or out of the past.” 

Salt River Bridge over Loop 202 South Mountain

This design was created by ADOT’s project team, in collaboration with artists from the Cosanti and Frank Lloyd Wright foundations, and others.

The design is pressed into the concrete using a metal stamp, and has been used in other projects across the Valley. Along with the Salt River Bridge, you can also spot it on SR 143 heading to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and the new I-10 Broadway Curve project.

Transportation history can be right in front of you and still require a little luck to find it. That happened when I checked what the State Library, Archives and Public Records’ Arizona Memory Project has on a former state highway underpass right outside my office on 17th Avenue, just south of the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix. 

I found this 1936 photo titled Underpass and commemorative plaque on United States Highway 80, the Phoenix-Yuma Highway, in Maricopa County. For the record, 17th Avenue once carried US 80 on its way to and from Yuma and other points west (zoom in on the downtown and Capitol areas in this 1937 map to see its route). The photo shows part of the underpass and a plaque that’s too far away to make out its message. You also can see the plaque in this wider 1936 view of the underpass. 

That plaque couldn’t still be there, I thought. I’d driven past that very spot countless times. But when I walked outside, there it was, faded and a bit painted-over, but still readable:

FRANK WILLIAM FLITTNER: Member A.S.C.E., associate construction engineer U.S.B.P.R., to whose memory this project, the last in which he engaged, is respectfully dedicated. 1893-1935 
(ASCE stands for American Society of Civil Engineers; U.S.B.P.R. is short for U.S. Bureau of Public Roads.)

I got to work researching Frank William Flittner, and there was plenty to be found. Alas, that didn’t include a photograph of the man. 

On Oct. 27, 1935, The Arizona Republic carried an article titled Illness Is Fatal to U.S. Engineer. Frank W. Flittner, who had died at age 42 after a three-day illness, was an associate construction engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads and well-known throughout central and southern Arizona, the article said. An Associated Press mention of Flittner’s death appeared in the Douglas Daily Dispatch and Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. He was survived by his wife and mother.

Flittner’s previous jobs included private practice as a consulting engineer and specializing in grade separation studies for the California State Highway Department, the article said. New Deal investments funded many grade separations, including the 17th Avenue underpass beneath what then were the Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad tracks, to separate automobile traffic and trains as well as traffic on intersecting highways. According to ADOT’s Historic Bridge Inventory, contractors R.C. Tanner and W.E. Hall submitted the low bid of $89,539.50 and completed the 17th Avenue underpass in late 1935. 

In November 1935, Arizona Highways magazine carried a tribute titled We Lose a True Friend. “Frank W. Flittner was ever ready to offer his brilliant talents to help solve the many problems of Arizona highway engineering,” the article said. He had joined the Bureau of Public Roads on Feb. 2, 1931, and served as an associate construction engineer in Phoenix and supervising engineer for southern Arizona and southeastern California. 

“In all his work with the Bureau he was careful and thorough. He continually strove for high standards on all work coming within his supervision,” the tribute reads. “Frank Flittner will be long remembered for his engineering ability, sterling character and agreeable personality.”

Though his death was unexpected, the tribute noted that he had bouts of poor health over several years. Yet he carried on his work with diligence, it said. Additional biographical information might offer a clue as to his poor health: He served in the Army during World War I and was wounded at Ypres in August 1918. 

So highly regarded was Frank William Flittner that the Arizona Highway Commission, at the suggestion of State Highway Engineer T.S. O’Connell, voted in November 1935 to name the 17th Avenue grade separation Frank Flittner Underpass. Arizona Highways described this as “fitting tribute to the memory of Frank W. Flittner, Associate Construction Engineer, who, connected with the local office of the Bureau of Public Roads up until the time of his death, was very much interested and had exerted every effort to obtain an outstanding piece of work in this structure.”

The commission authorized O’Connell to place a memorial plaque “with a description fitting to Mr. Flittner’s memory.” There actually are two identical plaques; one on the other side of the underpass is painted over but still visible.

The Arizona Memory Project has other mentions of Flittner. The August 1934 edition of Arizona Highways acknowledged his contributions to an article on efforts to prevent termites from damaging wooden sign posts and bridges, and other editions from the early 1930s had his name and title above regular lists of Bureau of Public Roads projects. Among other documents, the 1931-32 and 1933-34 editions of the Arizona Blue Book, a directory of government agencies and officials, listed F.W. Flittner and his role.

Newspaper archives yielded News About Town briefs on Frank W. Flittner, such as a June 16, 1931, Arizona Daily Star notice that he was in Tucson on business and registered at the Roskruge Hotel. He obviously traveled quite a bit to check on projects. Among other notices, the Aug. 22, 1931, Tucson Citizen said that Frank W. Fittner and Associate Bridge Engineer W.P. Wesch would be passing through on their way to inspect US 80 progress in Benson. On Oct. 13, 1932, The Arizona Republic mentioned that Frank W. Flittner was in southeastern Arizona on government business, a month after it noted that he had returned from a trip to Safford.

If you happen to travel 17th Avenue south of the State Capitol (you also can take this virtual trip via Google Street view), I hope you have the chance to see these plaques and appreciate the thought, effort and history behind the Frank Flittner Underpass. 

With pollinating insect populations like bees and Monarch butterflies declining, ADOT is establishing and conserving pollinator habitats along its rights of way.

ADOT’s efforts are spotlighted in the Transportation Research Board’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program’s series of 16 guides. Arizona and New Mexico are featured in the Southwest Guide, which was released this week.

Kris Gade, ADOT Environmental Planning assistant environmental administrator for biology, cultural resources and water, was one of the National Academy of Sciences panel members who developed right-of-way guidelines that are included in the Southwest Guide. In honor of National Pollinator Week, June 19-25, she wants to raise awareness about pollinators.

“One of the biggest reasons pollinators are declining is loss of habitat and native flowering plants that pollinators need for food and reproduction. ADOT helps pollinators by maintaining our right of way to allow and encourage these types of plants. We do this by timing maintenance practices like mowing and spraying herbicide to times when pollinators aren't present wherever possible.”

Gade also is part of Arizona Monarch Collaborative and the Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group that developed a nationwide conservation agreement for monarch butterflies to conserve and enhance monarch butterfly habitat, including providing vegetation they need to survive, such as milkweed.

ADOT only uses diverse native seed mixes to revegetate projects after construction, including plants that bloom when pollinators may be present in the right of way. They include chia, desert marigold and Mexican poppy.

For more information, view ADOT’s roadside vegetation management guidelines.