Mileage: US 64 started out as a relatively short road, running through the midsection of the country. But it was quickly extended in both directions, and it soon became a highway of significant length: today US 64 is among the longest US routes. In 1989 AASHTO listed a figure of 2381 miles for US 64... however, that included the mileage of US 64's associated business/bypass/alternate routes. According to the state subtotals on AASHTO's 1989 spreadsheet, mainline US 64's actual end-to-end total at the time was 2326 miles. That closely matches our own 2020 measurement, which yielded 2332.9 miles (reroutings and realignments likely explain the difference). Interestingly, Conway AR -- which was originally the highway's eastern terminus -- is now the midway point of the route.
The original west end of US 64 was at what was then US 385 in Capulin. US 385 was routed along what is now US 64-87; US 64 followed what is now NM hwy. 325 north from Capulin to Folsom, and NM 456 from Folsom to the Oklahoma panhandle:
c. 1927, Rand McNally
That route is quite primitive even today, so one can only imagine how desolate the road would have been during the late 1920s... which begs the question: why was a US route needed west of Boise City OK? There are a couple factors to consider: 1.) since there was no other US route in Boise (pronounced "Boyce") at the time, that was not a logical place for US 64 to end; and 2.) apparently there was no decent road between Boise and Clayton NM, so US 64 could not be routed that direction. Perhaps those are the reasons why US 64 was routed through northeastern New Mexico. This shot was looking south on NM 325 at US 64-87:
Sanderson, Feb. 2002
That would have been the view of a traveler at the original west end of US 64; the crossroad was US 385. If one were heading southeast on US 385, and wanted to continue east via US 64, this photo shows that view:
Sanderson, Feb. 2002
Southbound US 385 was ahead, while the west beginning of US 64 was to the left (the red suv had just reached the original west end of US 64). If one were to turn that way, perhaps the first eastbound US 64 marker would have been posted where the first NM 325 marker is today:
Sanderson, Feb. 2002
Sanderson, May 2016
Drivers starting out on the original US 64 had good views of Capulin Volcano. This last shot is looking west on US 64-87. The car is turning north onto the beginning of NM 325, and the original west beginning of US 64:
Sanderson, Feb. 2002
Originally the east end of US 64 was at its junction with US 65 in Conway, but things have changed a lot in that area. Today US 65 heads north out of Conway via Skyline Drive, around the east side of Beaver Fork Lake, and through Greenbrier. But originally US 65 went around the west side of Beaver Fork Lake, via what is now Old Highway 25 and AR 25 to Wooster; AR 285 to Martinville; and AR 124 to Damascus (that remained the case until about 1943):
c. 1927, Rand McNally
| Since US 64 comes into Conway from the west via Old Morrilton Highway, it originally junctioned US 65 at the north end of Washington Avenue. This was near today's junction with Old Hwy 25, although the alignments in that area changed a bit when I-40 was built just to the north. This interactive image is looking east on US 64; Old Hwy. 25 begins to the left (it goes under I-40, the embankment for which is visible at left): | |
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Today US 64 continues ahead (curving to the right through the gap in Cadron Ridge), but originally it was southbound US 65 that curved to the right (becoming Washington). To the left on Old Hwy. 25 was northbound US 65, so US 64 could have ended at that junction. Looking south at the junction, we see the store located there is named for the US route:
Google Maps Street View, Aug. 2019
Otherwise US 64 could have continued further east and south about a mile, overlapping with US 65 into downtown Conway. This map illustrated the pre-interstate alignments in the area, although by this time original US 65 had been changed to AR 25:
c. 1961, USGS
That arrangement did not last long; within a few years after US 64 was commissioned, it had been significantly extended to the east, with temporary endpoints in Marion and Chattanooga. By 1933 the US 64 designation terminated in Ft. Landing NC, where it remained for almost the next 20 years:
This photo shows the historic east end of US 64:
Roberson, Apr. 2008
In 1951 a ferry was established at Sandy Point (to the south of Ft. Landing, across the Little Alligator River, where US 64 runs today). The ferry went across the Alligator to East Lake. The US 64 designation was extended east via this ferry, and then on to its current terminus at the Atlantic Ocean. This occurs at a place known as Whalebone Junction, on the Outer Banks (photos and more info on the Nags Head page).
For a couple years, US 64 was overlapped west from Capulin with US 385, where those two routes shared a common terminus in Raton. Then, for the next several years, the west end of US 64 was in a city it no longer even serves: Santa Fe. At Taos, instead of heading up to Tres Piedras, US 64 was routed down modern NM 68, to its junction with US 84-285 near Espanola. South from there, it overlapped with those two highways down to Santa Fe. That changed in 1972, when a new road allowed travelers to get from Tres Piedras over to US 84 at Tierra Amarilla. Following is an excerpt from the minutes of AASHO's Nov. 1972 meeting:
So US 64 was truncated at Taos, and instead changed to its modern route to Farmington (its path from Chama through Dulce and Bloomfield was previously designated NM 17).In 1989, the US 64 designation was extended west of Farmington. It swallowed up what had been US 550 from there to Shiprock, and it continues further west, to the junction with US 160 near Teec Nos Pos AZ. This photo was facing south on westbound US 160, which continues to the right (those are the Carrizo Mountains in the distance):
Sanderson, July 2004
The west beginning of US 64 is to the left. Note that traffic coming from this direction has a stop sign. Here we are looking east on US 160, which continues to the left:
Sanderson, July 2004
US 64 begins straight ahead; the first confirming marker visible in the distance is shown close-up here:
Sanderson, July 2004
The first item on the mileage sign says "State Line: 4". It seems odd when boundaries are used as control points: is there anyone for whom the state line is actually their destination? Anyway, here is a view from the opposite direction (westbound):
Sanderson, July 2004
This is a situation that cries out for renumbering. AZDoT should get AASHTO's approval to change the designations such that -- instead of US 64 ending at this junction -- it would be US 160 that ends here, and US 64 would continue ahead (read more here).
Stephens, Sep. 2019
Research and/or photo credits: Jeremy Lance; Steven Nelson; Mike Roberson; Dale Sanderson; Forrest Sanderson; Shayne Stephens; Michael Summa
Page originally created 1999;last updated Dec. 17, 2023.
Summa
Summa
c. 1927, Rand McNally
Sanderson, Feb. 2002
Sanderson, Feb. 2002
Sanderson, Feb. 2002
Sanderson, May 2016
Sanderson, Feb. 2002
c. 1927, Rand McNally
Google Maps Street View, Aug. 2019
c. 1961, USGS
Roberson, Apr. 2008
Sanderson, July 2004
Sanderson, July 2004
Sanderson, July 2004
Sanderson, July 2004