End of US highway 163

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info on this page is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Photo credits: Chris Elbert; Alan Hamilton; Bruce Kasprzyk; Michael Summa; me

US 163 is a misnumbered highway, as it doesn't come anywhere near US 63. There was no excuse when it was commissioned in 1971: there were other possibilities that would've made more sense (some examples and more thoughts on my violations page). You may be aware of UT hwy. 163 (which used to head east from Bluff), but that didn't exist back when US 163 was assigned. Besides, there already was an appropriately named US 163 - long before this one - running between Des Moines and Oskaloosa IA (you can read about it here).

Despite its annoying number, I emphatically recommend driving US 163 - as long as your vehicle is in good shape and you have plenty of fuel. Breathtaking scenery abounds along nearly the entire route; you can view some photos I took on this page.

Anyway, on to the task at hand: the south end of modern US 163 has always been in Kayenta:

me, July 2004

This is on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona. As you can see from the signage above, US 163 terminates at its junction with US 160. To take a right at this intersection is to head southwest toward Tuba City. If you turned left, you'd be on your way to the Four Corners monument - where AZ, NM, CO, and UT meet. Straight ahead is southbound on Navajo hwy. 591, which is indicated on the assemblies shown below. This is from eastbound US 160:

me, July 2004

Church Rock is visible in the distance. Compare that assembly to the one that was posted here in 1988:

Summa, 1988

The AZ 163 sign was erroneous. They had it correct heading the opposite direction:

Summa, 1988

That was looking west on US 160; the photo below shows the latest version of that assembly:

me, July 2004

That's looking towards Marsh Pass, which is where 160 crosses from the San Juan basin to the Little Colorado watershed. If you turn right, you're at the south beginning of US 163, and you'll soon see the first northbound reassurance marker:

Kasprzyk, Mar. 2009

Below is another perspective of that sign, this one with the prominence known as Agathla Peak visible in the background:

Kasprzyk, Mar. 2009

From there, it's about 20 miles to the Utah line - and then another 45 miles to US 163's northern terminus at Bluff.

When it was first commissioned in 1971, the US 163 designation continued north of Bluff along present-day US 191, all the way up to Crescent Junction (you can view photos from there on this page). But Utah seems to be notorious for making unilateral decisions about its national routes (see also US 189): although AASHTO never formally decommissioned any part of US 163 until 2008, UDoT removed the signs north of Monticello in 1983 (you can view photos from there on this page), and then north of Bluff in 1985 (view photos on this page). US 163 has a junction with US 191 a few miles southwest of Bluff. According to Dan Stober's page, UDoT has officially considered this junction to be the north end of US 163 for quite some time (based on the legislative description of the route). However, from what I and others observed, it wasn't until 2004 that they got around to making their signage agree with their records. Now things are pretty straightforward; this first shot is looking north on US 163:

Elbert, July 2005

I'm quite certain that "End" sign wasn't there when I came through here in July 2004. But this assembly at the actual junction was:

Hamilton, Sep. 2003

As you can see, the mainline ahead is northbound US 191. Bluff is about four miles in the distance; it sits at the foot of that, um... bluff at far left. Below we're looking north on US 191:

me, July 2004

US 163 begins to the left. Heading the opposite direction, a sign approaching the junction has some interesting control destinations:

me, July 2004

The sign at bottom says "Trail of the Ancients". The photo below shows the signage ahead at the junction:

me, July 2004

You have to turn left to continue on southbound US 191; straight ahead is the north beginning of US 163. None of these signs leave any question as to where US 163 begins. But up until 2004, the signage in Bluff itself was enough to make you scratch your head (if you're interested, you can view photos on this page). And on top of all that, UDoT's official state highway map was changed recently, so that now it doesn't match the signposting on this road:

UDoT, c. 2005

They're showing US 163 co-signed with US 191 all the way up to I-70 at Crescent... which is kind of ironic, because (as I've said) AASHTO has never decommissioned this segment of US 163. I don't imagine that UDoT suddenly gives a rip what AASHTO thinks, but I do wonder what prompted this change on the map (my 2002 copy shows 163 ending at 191). And it's also interesting because this map was printed more or less in the same timeframe when the state finally cleared up the signage issues down at Bluff. More developments are sure to come...