page_title: Interstate 40 in Arizona
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 40 in Arizona / History / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Interstate 40 eastbound in Arizona, near the Arizona–New Mexico state line. Deutsch: Interstate 40 in östlicher Richtung an der Grenze zwischen Arizona und New Mexico.
context_page_description: Interstate 40 is an east–west Interstate Highway that has a 359.11-mile section in the U.S. state of Arizona, connecting sections in California and New Mexico. The section throughout the entire route in Arizona is also known as the Purple Heart Trail to honor those wounded in combat who have received the Purple Heart. It enters Arizona from the west at a crossing of the Colorado River southwest of Kingman. It travels eastward across the northern portion of the state connecting the cities of Kingman, Ash Fork, Williams, Flagstaff, Winslow, and Holbrook. I-40 continues into New Mexico, heading to Albuquerque. The highway has major junctions with U.S. Route 93 — the main highway connecting Phoenix and Las Vegas, Nevada — in Kingman and again approximately 22 miles to the east and Interstate 17 — the freeway linking Phoenix to northern Arizona — in Flagstaff.
  For the majority of its routing through Arizona, I-40 follows the historic alignment of U.S. Route 66. The lone exception is a stretch between Kingman and Ash Fork where US 66 took a more northerly, less direct route that is now State Route 66.
context_section_description: The construction of the 360-mile (579 km) route of I-40 across Arizona took nearly 25 years to complete with the last segment being completed in 1984, much longer than the ambitious goal of finishing by 1972.  By the end of 1960, 15 miles (24 km) had been completed with an additional 23 miles (37 km) being worked on.  In 1964, construction was still on schedule with 58 miles (93 km) complete and an additional 71 miles (114 km) under construction.  Funding was becoming an issue at this time as the state lacked the available funds to stay on pace with a 1972 completion goal.  By 1967, Arizona had completed almost half of the highway with  155.3 miles (249.9 km) complete and another 82.4 miles (133 km) under construction.  In 1968, the bypass around Flagstaff was complete with three interchanges, two at each end of where US 66 split off from I-40 to enter the city and one at the I-17 interchange.  An additional interchange at Butler Avenue was completed a year later.  One of the big improvements of I-40 over US 66 was the construction of the segment between Kingman and Ash Fork.  The 94-mile (151 km) section is a more direct route between the two cities and travels as far as 20 miles (32 km) south of the US 66 alignment, bypassing Hackberry and Peach Springs and creating ghost towns.  Construction of the $69.1 million segment was also to be a much safer route as the US 66 alignment had one of the highest fatality rates of any section of highway in Arizona.  This section of the Interstate was complete in 1978.  Construction of the $7.7 million bypass around Winslow began in 1977.  I-40 was completed in Arizona in 1984, with the completion of a 6-mile (10 km) section in Williams.  This was also the last section of US 66 to be bypassed by the Interstate, which led to it being decertified by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) the following year.
caption: I-40 near the New Mexico border
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