U.S. Highway 491
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United States Highway 491 is a north-south United States highway. One of the newest additions to the US Highway system, it was commissioned in 2003 as a renumbering of U.S. Highway 666 (an original 1926 route). Although the next 3-digit "child" of US 91 would have been US 291, both the 291 and 391 designations were already in use as state route numbers [1] (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/us666.htm).
The old US 666 is a well-constructed roadway, travelling through some scenic areas of Arizona. With the 666 designation, this route was given the nickname, "The Devil's Highway." However, the number's associations with the biblical Number of the Beast made some people uncomfortable, as well as making the signs targets for theft. In 1993, the part in Arizona was renamed as an extension of US 191; the rest became US 491 in 2003.
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Termini
As of 2004, the highway's northern terminus is in Monticello, Utah at an intersection with U.S. Highway 191. This intersection is the basis for this route's x91 number. Its southern terminus is in Gallup, New Mexico at an intersection with Interstate 40 (historic U.S. Highway 66).
Historic termini
- When the route was first commissioned in 1926, its northern terminus was in Cortez, Colorado at an intersection with U.S. Highway 450 (modern US 160). It extended south to Gallup, New Mexico, one of the famous stops on the original Route 66, the "parent" of US 666. The north-south route was technically a violation of the numbering convention that even-numbered routes run east-west. But the short route didn't intersect any odd-numbered US routes at the time.
- In 1938, its southern terminus was extended to Douglas, Arizona at the Mexican border. It was co-signed with US 66 for 30 miles (48 km) before its turn south.
- In 1970, US 160 at Cortez, Colorado was rerouted south to serve the Four Corners Monument. US 666 was extended up part of the old route of US 160 to Monticello, Utah, at an intersection with then U.S. Highway 163 (now U.S. Highway 191) which took over the route northerly from there to the intersection with U.S. Highways 6 and 50. (US 163 went south from there to the redesignated US 160 in Arizona.) These redesignations of US 160 as a US 666 extension and US 163 creation would foreshadow the final fate of US 666.
- In 1985, the U.S. Highway 66 designation was eliminated. In 1993, Arizona requested AASHTO to allow the state's segment of US 666 to be redesignated as a southern extension of US 191. This truncated US 666 again at Gallup, New Mexico, now at Interstate 40. US 191 was extended from its truncated former southern end, through Yellowstone Park, replacing US 189 in Wyoming, over previous state routes in Wyoming and Utah, then taking over most of US 163 (!) and then heading over new roadway and previous state routes to the Arizona US 666 segments.
- In January 2003, the Governor of New Mexico declared his intent to change the designation of US 666 due to "infamy brought by the inopportune naming of the road." [2] (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/us666.htm) Officials in Colorado and Utah concurred, choosing "US 393" as the route number. But since the route came nowhere near U.S. Highway 93, AASHTO suggested U.S. Highway 491, noting it as a "branch" of U.S. Highway 191 because the routes meet in Monticello, Utah. US 666 officially ceased to exist on May 31, 2003, though "New 491 - Old 666" signs would be posted for at least a year.
States traversed
The highway passes through the following states:
Related U.S. Highways
- U.S. Highway 91
- U.S. Highway 191
- There has never been a US Highway 291 or 391
- U.S. Highway 66 ("Route 66")
- U.S. Highway 166
- U.S. Highway 266
- U.S. Highway 366
- U.S. Highway 466
- U.S. Highway 566
- List of U.S. Highways
Sources and external links
- Endpoints of US highways - US 491 (http://www.geocities.com/usend9099/End491/end491.htm)
- Endpoints of US highways - US 666 (http://www.geocities.com/usend6069/End666/end666.htm)
- U.S. Department of Transportation: U.S. 666: Beast of a Highway? (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/us666.htm)