page_title: Arizona State Route 89A
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Arizona State Route 89A / History
caption_attribution_description: SR 89A in Sedona, Arizona; image cropped from original to remove portions of a car in the photo
context_page_description: State Route 89A is an 83.85-mile state highway that runs from Prescott north to Flagstaff in the U.S. state of Arizona. The highway begins at SR 89 in Yavapai County and heads northward from Prescott, entering Jerome. From Jerome, the route then heads to Cottonwood and Sedona. The highway is notable for its scenic value as it passes through Sedona and the Oak Creek Canyon. The route then enters Coconino County soon after leaving Sedona. The highway proceeds to Flagstaff, where it crosses Interstate 17 and I-40. The highway ends at I-40 Business in Flagstaff. What is now SR 89A became a state highway in the late 1920s as SR 79. The highway was extended and improved several times through 1938. SR 79 was renumbered to U.S. Route 89A in 1941 and then to SR 89A in the early 1990s.
context_section_description: The routing of SR 89A was first defined as a state highway in 1927 as SR 79 by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). At the time, only the portion from Prescott to Clarkdale was built, but the remaining portion to Flagstaff had been planned. By 1929, the highway had been extended north to Sedona, although the entire highway was not paved at this time. A graded dirt road was built the following year between Flagstaff and Sedona. The southern half of the section between Sedona and Flagstaff had been improved to a gravel road by 1934, with the northern half under construction. The next year, the construction on the northern section near Flagstaff was complete. The southern end of the highway near Prescott and the section between Jerome and Cottonwood had been paved by this time. By 1938, the entire route had been paved.
  By 1941, the highway was redesignated from SR 79 to US 89A. Before the establishment of the route for I-17, the only route to Flagstaff was through Prescott. There were two routes available: US 89A through Jerome, Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon or north through Chino Valley via US 89 to US 66. The route was redesignated from US 89A to SR 89A in 1993.
  Before 2001, SR 89A had veered south into the granite dells near Watson Lake, but due to an aging granite creek bridge and increased traffic, Yavapai County acquired the necessary land to realign SR 89A away from the dells and near the airport.
caption: SR 89A south of Sedona
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