Interstate 40 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purple Heart Trail | ||||
 I-40 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by ADOT | ||||
| Length | 359.11 mi[1] (577.93 km) | |||
| Existed | 1960–present | |||
| NHS | Entire route | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  I-40 at California state line | |||
| East end |  I-40 at New Mexico state line | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Arizona | |||
| Counties | Mohave, Yavapai, Coconino, Navajo, Apache | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Interstate 40 (I-40) is an east–west Interstate Highway that has a 359.11-mile (577.93 km) section in the US state of Arizona, connecting sections in California and New Mexico. The Interstate is also referred to as the Purple Heart Trail to honor those wounded in combat who have received the Purple Heart.[2] It enters Arizona from the west at a crossing of the Colorado River southwest of Kingman. It travels eastward across the northern portion of the state, connecting the cities of Kingman, Ash Fork, Williams, Flagstaff, Winslow, and Holbrook. I-40 continues into New Mexico, heading to Albuquerque. The highway has major junctions with U.S. Route 93 (US 93; the main highway connecting Phoenix and Las Vegas, Nevada) in Kingman and again approximately 22 miles (35 km) to the east and I-17 (the freeway linking Phoenix to northern Arizona) in Flagstaff.
For the majority of its routing through Arizona, I-40 follows the historic alignment of US 66. The lone exception is a stretch between Kingman and Ash Fork where US 66 took a more northerly, less direct route that is now State Route 66 (SR 66). Construction of I-40 was ongoing in the 1960s and 1970s and reached completion in 1984. With the completion of I-40 in 1984, the entire routing of US 66 had been bypassed by Interstate Highways which led to its decertification a year later in 1985.
- ^ "2008 State Highway System Log" (PDF). Arizona Department of Transportation. December 31, 2008. Retrieved April 21, 2008.
- ^ "Veterans attend re-naming of I-40 as 'Purple Heart Trail'". Prescott Valley Tribune. September 28, 2004. Retrieved April 27, 2018.[permanent dead link]