End of historic US highway 180 [I]

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info below is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Photo credits: Alan Hamilton; my parents

Today's US 180 is actually the second route to be assigned that number (you can read about its endpoints on this page). The original US 180 began at its junction with US 80/89 at Florence Junction AZ. The shot below was taken from what was once westbound US 80/northbound US 89. Those routes continued to the left from the stop sign, but to the right (straight ahead in the photo) was the west beginning of US 180:

Hamilton, Dec. 2007

Later that segment became part of US 60/US 70, but today it serves only as a frontage road to modern US 60, and it deadends in about a half-mile. The backside of that sign is visible at far left in the photo below:

Hamilton, Dec. 2007

That's looking west at the historic end of US 180. This is the original "Florence Junction": straight ahead was westbound US 80/northbound US 89, while southbound/eastbound was to the left. If we turn left today, we immediately come to an interchange with the US 60 expressway:

Hamilton, Dec. 2007

Straight ahead is AZ hwy. 79 to Florence and Tucson. US 60 goes west (right) to Phoenix, while Globe is to the left. But originally from this point it was US 180 that went east to Globe, and then continued southeast into New Mexico. Near Lordsburg, US 180 came within three miles of rejoining its "parent" route (US 80), but instead veered off to the northeast. From there the assigned routing was through Silver City and over Emory Pass to Caballo, where US 180 ended at its junction with US 85. However, there's some question as to whether the segment between Hanover and Hillsboro was even a driveable auto route during that time period. Suggesting that it was not is the fact that the route was decommissioned after only about 9 years - US 70 took over the segment west of Lordsburg, but the Emory Pass segment hasn't been a part of the US route system since then.

Anyway, the photos below show the historic terminus at Caballo. This first one is looking east on NM hwy. 152:

my parents, Apr. 2006

The Caballo Mountains dominate the horizon in that direction. I-25's interchange 63 is just behind the camera. Old US 180 is now NM 152. In the distance is NM 187, which was originally US 85. Below is a close-up:

my parents, Apr. 2006

US 180 ended at the T-junction in the background. The photo below shows a view approaching that junction from the south:

my parents, Apr. 2006

That was once northbound US 85, and US 180 began to the left. The view below is from the opposite direction:

my parents, Apr. 2006

As a side note: although this original US 180 and the current US 180 are not related, the current route does overlap the historic route between Silver City and Santa Clara NM (although back in the days of the original US 180, Santa Clara was called "Central").