- City:
- Flagstaff, AZ
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Started:
- 1934
- Completed:
- 1937
- Designers:
- Clyde Etter, Engineer
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
In 1934, Coconino county used federal funds to help widen, surface and oil three miles of dirt road from the north end of Beaver Street in Flagstaff to the city’s reservoirs. This was the first county road to be paved. It fostered bigger ideas from Flagstaff’s city fathers, who had long wanted a more direct route to the Grand Canyon around the west side of the San Francisco Peaks.
In 1936, county engineer Clyde Etter proposed improving the old forest road through Fort Valley and extending it 50 miles to the Williams-Grand Canyon road (today’s Highway 64). The Works Progress Administration (WPA) agreed to allocate $75,000 (in labor) to the project and the county put up $5,000 (in materials). Work took place in 1937-38, and by late 1938 the entire 79 mile route was passable. This shortened the distance from Flagstaff to the South Rim by 12 miles.
Improved Fort Valley road was the foundation for modern highway 180, which has been repeatedly upgraded over the years.
[The photographs here only cover the southern half of Fort Valley Road/Highway 180]
Source notes
Platt Cline, Mountain Town: Flagstaff's First Century. Flagstaff AZ: Northland Publishing Company, 1994, p. 314.
Site originally submitted by Richard Walker on April 24, 2022.
Site Details
| Federal Cost | Local Cost | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|
| $75,000.00 | $5,000.00 | $80,000.00 |
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