Exploring Arizona's Abandoned Highway 60 and the Claypool Tunnel

Today, US Route 60 in Arizona links the town of Superior and Globe but up until the 1920s, a road between the two towns, separated by only 23 miles, didn't exist. That was until the building of the Superior-Miami Highway in 1922.

The road covered 21 miles through the mountains and was known as the Arizona Highway Department's most ambitious project of its time. Building the highway cost about $1,000,000 and the road became known as the Million Dollar Highway.

In 1926 in an effort to straighten the road some, the Claypool Tunnel was blasted into the mountains. Eventually the road would become part go Highway 60 as the it expanded into Arizona.

The road was known for being steep, narrow, and curvy and by the late 1940s work had begun a new alignment. With the completion of the Queen Creek Bridge in 1949 and the Queen Creek Tunnel in 1952, this section of the highway was bypassed.

Luckily, the old highway remains. In this video we head down the abandoned section of the road as we travel through the Claypool Tunnel, visit both the old and new Queen Creek Bridges, find relics from the roads construction and Superior's mining days.

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