The average metro Phoenix resident spends nearly 30 minutes a day commuting, officials say.
Given how much time we spend on the road, you may be familiar with rush hour patterns and the major landmarks you can spot from the freeways. But do you know much about the history of the freeways Arizonans rely on to get across town?
The first freeway built in metro Phoenix was the Black Canyon Freeway, also known as Interstate 17. The Arizona Republic archives show the construction of the freeway and its impact on the landscape of Phoenix.
Here’s what to know about the first freeway in metro Phoenix and how the system has grown since.
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What was the first freeway in Phoenix?
First built in the 1950s, the Black Canyon Freeway, which is a part of Interstate 17, was Phoenix’s first freeway.
The route’s first iteration was as a stagecoach line north of Phoenix. Today, it’s developed into a modern highway that serves as a direct route between Phoenix and Flagstaff. The freeway was completed 22 years after it was first built in northern Arizona in 1978.
The freeway was built to ease traffic in metro Phoenix and help travelers reach the Verde Valley and Flagstaff, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.
“By modern standards, the Black Canyon Freeway was a modest undertaking: a four-lane controlled access highway (the state’s first) that began west of downtown and ran north for a few miles before merging back into the city’s arterial street network,” an ADOT history report on the freeway says.
A key feature of the freeway was its interchange with Grand Avenue.
Just a few years after construction began on I-17 in metro Phoenix, work began on I-10. The freeways were dedicated in 1964 when dedicated from 16th Street to just north of the Carefree Highway, according to ADOT.
When were the Phoenix freeways built?
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Black Canyon Freeway: Built 1956
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Maricopa Freeway: Built 1958
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Superstition Freeway: Opened 1971
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Hohokam Expressway: Opened 1978
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Papago Freeway: Built 1983
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Agua Fria Freeway: Built 1987
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Pima Freeway: Built 1987
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Price Freeway: Built 1987
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Bob Stump Memorial Parkway: Opened 1991
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Piestewa Freeway: Opened 1991
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Red Mountain Freeway: Opened 1993
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SanTan Freeway: Built 1999
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Gateway Freeway: Built 2012
Former Arizona Republic reporter Madeline Nguyen contributed to this article.
More: This is the busiest stretch of freeway in metro Phoenix
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Freeways in Phoenix: See how roads have changed
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