Current and historic US Highway ends
in Douglas, AZ

Research credits: Alan Hamilton. Photo credits: Chris Elbert; Andy Field; Jeff Jensen; my parents

When the US routes were first commissioned in 1926, US 80 went through Douglas. However, no north-south US route served the town until 1938: that was the year the US 666 designation was extended into Arizona. That lasted until 1992. At that time, US 191 was extended east from Chambers AZ about 6 miles on I-40 to Sanders AZ. From there the route was extended south all the way to Douglas, replacing what had been US 666. This first photo is looking south on US 191 at its junction with AZ hwy. 80 (which is historic US 80):

Jensen, 2002

Note the "End" sign; below is a close-up:

Field, May 2003

According to ADoT route logs, that's also where US 666 ended from 1938-1962, and again from 1971-1992. That assembly has since been improved:

Elbert, Apr. 2008

Note that there's no mention of "Business 191" there (more on that below). Downtown Douglas is about a mile to the east (left), and from 1962-1971, US 666 was co-signed with AZ 80 that direction. If we turn left from there today, the road becomes 16th Street, and we soon come to this overhead sign:

Elbert, Apr. 2008

Hmm, so we're still on US 191, and it continues to the right? Well, an assembly just ahead from there gives us a slightly different story:

Elbert, Apr. 2008

Oh, so it's actually Business Spur 191. Not far to the right on Pan American Avenue is the border crossing, shown below:

my parents, Mar. 2007

That's looking south on Pan American, past 5th Street. So this was the south end of US 666 from 1962-1971. From 1971-1992 it was the south end of Business 666, and since then it's been the south end of Business 191. If you turn around and head north from there, the first confirming assembly (at 5th) has a Business tab...

Elbert, Apr. 2008

...but when we get back to 16th, the overhead signage once again makes it look like this is mainline US 191:

my parents, Mar. 2007

Same thing heading the opposite direction:

That's on southbound Pan American at 16th. It's possible that those signs hearken back to the timeframe during which US 666 was signed all the way to the border crossing. Then in 1992 the 666 shields were simply replaced with 191 shields (even though that was no longer accurate). Anyway, about a mile to the right, we come to this:

Elbert, Apr. 2008

There's a similar assembly for traffic heading the opposite direction (east on AZ 80)...

Elbert, Apr. 2008

...although that too is an upgrade from what used to be there:

Field, May 2003

If you take that left turn, the confirming assembly looks like this:

Elbert, Apr. 2008

(The sticker on the lower left says "Historic US 666".) Anyway, according to ADoT records, US 191 officially ends west of town (where the "End" sign is posted). East from there is just AZ 80 to Pan American (which would explain why there's no signage for "Business Spur US 191" at the junction where mainline 191 ends). Business 191 runs from Pan American down to the border crossing... which is very unusual, because it doesn't intersect mainline 191 (Business 666 never touched its parent, either). It's also strange that, east of that junction, there are actually more references to mainline 191 than there are to Business 191.