When it first opened on August 1st, 1920, it was declared "Yavapai's Greatest Attraction." (*1)
"Members of the National Geographic Society...proclaimed [Highway 79] as 'the most beautiful drive in America.'" (*2)
To cynics (and the carsick), the curvy, mountain road might seem to have been designed by a carnival-ride engineer, a drunk, or both. In fact, Highway 79 would be considered an engineering marvel even by today's standards. It cut the travel time and distance between the two cities nearly in half.
While some history is buried under the sands of time, Highway 79 was eventually buried under a ribbon of asphalt and given a new number: 89A. Still, the twists and turns of this roadway only mirror the odyssey taken to construct it.
