SR 74

Looking back at SR 74 opening in 1974

Looking back at SR 74 opening in 1974

Looking back at SR 74 opening in 1974

By Kathy Cline / ADOT Communications

July 8, 2024

In a black and white photo from 1974, people gather at the opening of a rural highway.

As we mark ADOT’s 50th Anniversary, we’ve been looking back at what was happening with all things transportation in Arizona when we became the state DOT in 1974. One particular item caught our attention. Did you know that State Route 74 opened in 1974?

State Route 74 encompasses the western end of "Carefree Highway," starting at Interstate 17 north of Phoenix. While the Carefree Highway designation only remains for about six miles to Lake Pleasant Parkway, the entirety of State Route 74 is just over 30 miles long. It can take you from I-17 west to Morristown, passing Lake Pleasant along the way.

SR 74 began as a promise to the town of Wickenburg to help replace a feared loss of tourism dollars when Interstate 10 was constructed in western Arizona, according to the 2011 book "Arizona Transportation History."

"Instead of having Interstate 10 follow U.S. Route 60 from Phoenix through Wickenburg and Aguila, Arizona highway planners proposed to build a new highway along a more direct route west of Phoenix — an alignment that came to be called the Brenda Cutoff. Wickenburg business interests protested the realignment, which they argued would decimate the town’s tourism-based economy.

"In the end, the federal government’s emphasis on efficiency and reduced travel times prevailed over local sentiments in favor of supporting Arizona’s small-town economies. The Brenda Cutoff was approved, though the economic blow to Wickenburg was softened by the state’s promise to build a new highway between Wickenburg and Interstate 17, which would be designated State Route 74."

That promise was fulfilled on May 19, 1974, when then-Arizona Governor Jack Williams dedicated State Route 74 as open for business. We were able to find this photo in our archives from the ceremony that day.

Fun fact: SR 74 was the last state highway opened under the name “Arizona Highway Department.” Less than two months after this photo was taken, the Arizona Department of Transportation was created by the State Legislature.

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Plan on weekend restrictions, delays along US 60 in the Surprise area

Plan on weekend restrictions, delays along US 60 in the Surprise area

Plan on weekend restrictions, delays along US 60 in the Surprise area

May 3, 2024

Pavement sealing work taking place on Grand Ave west of Loop 303

PHOENIX – If you have travel plans along Grand Avenue (US 60) in the Surprise area this weekend (May 4-5), be sure to allow extra travel time and consider alternate routes while pavement sealing work is taking place.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is doing the work to extend the lifespan of the existing US 60 asphalt pavement in the area west of Loop 303.

The following US 60 restrictions are scheduled:

Grand Avenue narrowed to one lane in both directions between 163rd Avenue (west of Loop 303) and Center Street (Wittmann area) from 11 p.m. Friday to 3 p.m. Saturday (May 4) and from 11 p.m. Saturday to 3 p.m. Sunday (May 5) for pavement sealing work. The Deer Valley Road connection to US 60 will be closed. Temporary closures of other cross streets will be needed for work at intersections. Detours: Westbound US 60 drivers can use northbound Loop 303 to northbound Lake Pleasant Parkway and westbound State Route 74. Eastbound US 60 drivers (from Wickenburg) can consider using eastbound SR 74 to southbound Lake Pleasant Parkway and southbound Loop 303 to reach Grand Avenue (US 60). Local drivers near 163rd Avenue can consider alternate routes including eastbound Happy Valley Road to access Loop 303/Happy Valley Parkway.

Similar restrictions are scheduled the weekend of May 11-12 along US 60 between Center Street in Wittmann and SR 74.
Real-time highway conditions are available on ADOT’s Arizona Traveler Information site at az511.gov and via the AZ511 app (download free for Apple and Android devices). ADOT also provides highway condition updates via its X/Twitter feed, @ArizonaDOT.

Turning back the pages on Carefree Highway's top 10 hit

Turning back the pages on Carefree Highway's top 10 hit

Turning back the pages on Carefree Highway's top 10 hit

By John LaBarbera / ADOT Communications

July 29, 2020

Hey, real quick, can you name a song or two that talks about or mentions Arizona? I’ll give you a good 10 seconds.

OK. How’d you do?

Songs by The Eagles, Glen Campbell, The Steve Miller Band, The Beatles, and quite possibly the entire Gin Blossoms catalog came to mind.

There’s one song, though, that doesn’t just give a passing acknowledgement of our great state. And that tune is “Carefree Highway” by Canadian folk virtuoso Gordon Lightfoot. A song about a man reminiscing about a long-lost love that didn’t quite pan out, as he “slips away” along the highway’s pleasant path.

But Phoenix-area drivers know that Carefree Highway is not just a catchy song title. It's the formal name of a road running east of I-17 and the state highway system in the north Valley, and it's a nickname for one section of State Route 74, giving ADOT leeway to bask in some of the song's glory. SR 74 was commissioned in 1964 and stretches 30 miles between US 60 just south of Wickenburg to Interstate 17 in north Phoenix. It actually goes by three different names along the way: Morristown-New River Highway, Lake Pleasant Highway, and finally Carefree Highway. The "Carefree Highway" that has the name extends east from I-17 all the way to Scottsdale Road, but it's no longer part of SR 74.

And, yes, there is a connection between the name and Lightfoot's nostalgic ballad.

As the singer told a crowd in Reno in the YouTube clip at right, he was traveling through Phoenix and passed a sign that said “Carefree Highway.” The name struck him so much that he wrote it down on a little piece of paper. This slip “almost got left in the glove compartment of a car," but luckily for folk enthusiasts, he remembered to take it along.

Lightfoot’s ode to an Arizona highway cracked the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and even scored the coveted No. 1 slot on the Easy Listening chart. There’s a good chance, if you were driving on State Route 74 during the late summer of 1974, you were cruising to the dulcet sounds of this very song while listening to the heavenly hiss of AM radio.

It's 2020, and you don’t need to wait through countless commercials and boss jocks to hear a song you like. You can plug “Carefree Highway” straight to your phone and pop it on the next time you want to slip away on Carefree Highway.

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