If you think about it, US 93 is a bit odd.

Don't get us wrong, it's a fine highway. But it does have one particular quirk: Its mileposts go up as you to north to south, rather than the usual south to north.

As we mentioned in a post about exit signs some time ago, there is a general rule for how the milepost on highways are supposed to go. As a quick recap, highways start at mile marker "0" at the western or southern state line or terminus and increase as you head east or north.

Then there is US 93. 

Despite what we just said, milepost 0 is not at its junction with US 60 in Wickenburg, but rather where it enters from Nevada. 

We'll be honest: Why the highway is numbered like this is extremely hard to pin down. We don't have a firm answer, but there are two good intertwined guesses that rise to the top as we look at its history.

The first involves the fact that the stretch between Hoover Dam and Kingman was not originally US 93. It was US 466, a road comissioned in 1934 that ran from Morro Bay, California, to Kingman. However, starting the next year, Arizona was already petitioning to bring US 93 from its current terminus in Glendale, Nevada, down to Kingman and even beyond. The whole slew of proposals to bring US 93 further into the state, with too many ups and downs to mention in this post, is well-documented in the Federal Highway Administration's page on the history of US 93. Suffice it to say that in late 1935 extending the US 93 designation to Kingman was approved.

By 1939, road logs from the FHWA show US 93 as ending in Kingman, though we found other sources out there saying the designation didn't become co-signed with US 466 until as late as 1951. Either way, the US 466 designation was eventually given the ax in 1971, when California, Arizona and Nevada petitioned the American Association of State Highway and Transporation Officials to get rid of it because it had been mostly taken over by I-15 and US 93.

And this is the first guess about why US 93 is numbered the way it is. Even though it ran more or less north-south when it entered Arizona, US 466 was a west-east highway. So its mileposts would have started at "0" at the Nevada state line and increase as it went toward Kingman. Since US 93 was essentially overlayed on top of US 466, it stands to reason that the mileposts were simply not changed.

Our second guess goes back to those whole series of proposals to extend US 93. There were several proposed routes, including along what is today State Route 89 through Ash Fork and Prescott, and a few petitions to get the highway all the way to the international border with Mexico. So if the state was unsure where the road would eventually end, they couldn't very well number it south to north, something that would change depending on what would be eventually approved.

These two guesses are not necessarily mutually exclusive and each may have had a part to play in why US 93 is numbered liked it is. All of this goes back to the early days of numbering, when the state highway system was still taking shape. And, funny enough, US 93 is not alone in this quirk. State Routes 67, 587 and 85 (the portion extending from Gila Bend to Why and then the international border with Mexico) also have a north-to-south numbering scheme. But those are blog posts for another day.

If 50 years of "Star Trek" has taught us anything, it's that virtual communication is the wave of the future. Kirk, Spock, Picard, Janeway and all the rest are constantly using viewscreens, communicators and holograms to connect with people who might be worlds away. 

While we may still be a long ways away from teleporters and starships, during the current public health situation we are looking toward technology to continue offering training and services.

Road projects have continued to move forward during this time, which means ADOT had make sure the public could have plenty of input. As we told you about recently, with traditional public meetings a non-starter we used a virtual town hall format for some projects, such as the future improvements to the Interstate 40 and US 93 interchange. People were able to use their communicators – known in this century as cellphones – to call in and listen to the presentation. The meeting was also broadcast via two radio stations. The number of comments we received from this meeting rivaled those of a tradition in-person open house.

When it came to continuing our offerings to help small or economically disadvantaged businesses seeking federally assisted contracts, those too are now being done virtually. These businesses can now receive counseling or take advantage of other tools, such as our 21-week Business Development Program, completely online.

Back in April, ADOT's Border Liaison Unit launched a webinar for Mexican truckers to discuss emergency restrictions and exemptions for commercial vehicles using the state's ports of entry. This proved so successful that future webinars are planned that will incorporate material from the in-person safety training the unit has been doing since 2016.

This month we also held another session of our popular Construction Academy to help women, veterans, minorities and other disadvantage groups get the necessary training to get into a career in construction. The majority of particpants were able to receive the necessary classroom training through video conferencing and online construction. 

And the best part is that these virtual tools have proven popular and useful enough to help our communication and training efforts live long and prosper even after the need to socially distance ends.

The technology we are using may not be as cool as what you'd find on the bridge of the Enterprise, but it's still allowing us to boldy go forward in our continuing mission to better communicate and serve the drivers of Arizona.

Despite the current public health situation, highway improvements continue. And since public involvement is a crucial part of a highway project’s schedule, ADOT needed to get creative to keep the public engaged.

And that brings us to ADOT’s first project-level virtual public hearing on Thursday, May 28, for the I-40/US 93 traffic interchange project in west Kingman. This virtual public hearing will be a call-in event where the public can call in to listen to a presentation on the current status of the project and give their input and feedback.

The virtual hearing will also be broadcast live on local radio stations in the Kingman and Bullhead City area for those who just want to listen in.

Virtual meetings, which allow ADOT to gather public input and answer questions like it would at an in-person public meeting, are planned for upcoming construction projects in Tucson and Prescott Valley. 

It’s important to find ways to hold these hearings and keep the public involved so project schedules don’t get behind. Temporary solutions like virtual public hearings and meetings are creative solutions to keep the public involved and projects on schedule during a time where we can’t meet together.

The public comment period is also open right now until Saturday, June 6. People can offer their comments online, through email, phone or mail. Every comment received gets recorded in the environmental record.

For more information on how to participate, please visit azdot.gov/WestKingmanTIP.

Today we are throwing back to the near past and one of the first of a series of projects to upgrade US 93 between Wickenburg and the Nevada state line.

Over the past two decades, ADOT has invested nearly half a billion dollars into turning this busy corridor between the Valley and Las Vegas into a four-lane divided highway, all with an eye toward the future Interstate 11.

This photo is from April 2006 and shows work happening to put new bridges over Burro Creek, south of Wikieup, and represents one of the earliest completed projects toward that goal. This bridge, and another over Santa Maria River, were completed in 2008. 

As we told you about at the beginning of the year, 161 miles of the highway have received these improvements and another 13-mile section north of Wikieup is currently being worked on. You can read more about the scope of the US 93 improvements on our website.

 

By Ryan Harding / ADOT Communications

161.

That’s the number of miles of US 93 between Wickenburg and the Nevada state line that have been upgraded to four-lane divided highway. And we're launching a $35.5 million project that will add nearly 4 more miles to that total.

This work just north of Wikieup, between Carrow and Stephens, will connect two sections of highway that have already been divided. That will create a 13-mile continuous stretch of divided four-lane highway from milepost 108, about 15 miles south of I-40, and milepost 121 near Wikieup. That’s the number of miles of US 93 between Wickenburg and the Nevada state line that have been upgraded to four-lane divided highway. And we're launching a $35.5 million project that will add nearly 4 more miles to that total.

Keeping a future Interstate 11 in mind, ADOT has invested more than half a billion dollars over the past 20 years to turn the primary route between Phoenix and Las Vegas into modern four-lane divided highway. Click on the image at right for a detailed look at what's been completed and what's currently planned.

The upgrade to a four-lane divided highway improves traffic flow, supports the movement of freight and enhances safety through this heavily traveled area. The entire northern segment of US 93 from Kingman to the Nevada state line (mileposts 1 to 68) is now a four-lane divided highway following the completion of a $71 million project in 2010.

Work is expected to launch in the next few weeks, with the majority taking place off of the highway and not impacting motorists for some time.

You can read more about our past, current and planned work for US 93 on our projects website.