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Interstate 40 in Arizona
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<p>Interstate 40 (I-40) is an east–west <a href="/facts/Interstate_Highway/99o39I6K">Interstate Highway</a> that has a 359.11-mile (577.93 km) section in the US state of <a href="/facts/Arizona/6ayM3swJ">Arizona</a>, connecting sections in <a href="/facts/California/zLW2vdQJ">California</a> and <a href="/facts/New_Mexico/wosJCGaW">New Mexico</a>. The Interstate is also referred to as the Purple Heart Trail to honor those wounded in combat who have received the <a href="/facts/Purple_Heart/4JbJgLc6">Purple Heart</a>. It enters Arizona from the west at a crossing of the <a href="/facts/Colorado_River/yGEJtRAJ">Colorado River</a> southwest of <a href="/facts/Kingman%2c_Arizona/vzrNTrRR">Kingman</a>. It travels eastward across the <a href="/facts/Northern_Arizona/W4Xhbeb5">northern portion of the state</a>, connecting the cities of <a href="/facts/Kingman%2c_Arizona/vzrNTrRR">Kingman</a>, <a href="/facts/Ash_Fork%2c_Arizona/gtINoEIG">Ash Fork</a>, <a href="/facts/Williams%2c_Arizona/8XJultQY">Williams</a>, <a href="/facts/Flagstaff%2c_Arizona/CYTyVnIW">Flagstaff</a>, <a href="/facts/Winslow%2c_Arizona/szBtl9LS">Winslow</a>, and <a href="/facts/Holbrook%2c_Arizona/gJmXpHRt">Holbrook</a>. I-40 continues into New Mexico, heading to <a href="/facts/Albuquerque%2c_New_Mexico/SATmBfJb">Albuquerque</a>. The highway has major junctions with <a href="/facts/U.S._Route_93_in_Arizona/2S5QFBAL">U.S. Route 93</a> (US 93; the main highway connecting <a href="/facts/Phoenix%2c_Arizona/MFvp5Upw">Phoenix</a> and <a href="/facts/Las_Vegas/DLwGjxJt">Las Vegas</a>, <a href="/facts/Nevada/HNWhCrQv">Nevada</a>) in Kingman and again approximately 22 miles (35 km) to the east and <a href="/facts/Interstate_17/rpuafhF8">I-17</a> (the freeway linking Phoenix to northern Arizona) in Flagstaff. </p><p>For the majority of its routing through Arizona, I-40 follows the historic alignment of <a href="/facts/U.S._Route_66_in_Arizona/A6CaQDJa">US 66</a>. The lone exception is a stretch between Kingman and <a href="/facts/Ash_Fork%2c_Arizona/gtINoEIG">Ash Fork</a> where US 66 took a more northerly, less direct route that is now <a href="/facts/Arizona_State_Route_66/ptaUbaxg">State Route 66</a> (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. </p>