was the main north–south highway in Arizona, connecting the cities of Tucson, Phoenix and Flagstaff with Mexico and Utah. On the afternoon of October 12, 1940, silent film actor Tom Mix died in a car accident on US 80/US 89 18.5 miles southeast of Florence, Arizona. The entire highway between Florence Junction and Oracle Junction remained completely unpaved until 1946, and was the last section of US 80 in the entire state to receive pavement. The US 80 designation was decommissioned from this road in 1977, when the highway was removed between Yuma and Benson. The remainder of US 80 was decommissioned in Arizona on October 6, 1989. The highway remained part of US 89 until 1992, when the designation was truncated to Flagstaff. SR 79 was designated as a segment of Historic U.S. Route 80 by the Arizona Department of Transportation in September 2018. The original SR 79 was designated on September 9, 1927, as part of the original state highways from Prescott to Jerome. By 1928, it extended northeast to Flagstaff. In 1941, this was redesignated as U.S. Route 89A. In 1950, it was redesignated from Camp Verde to SR 69 at Cordes Junction. In 1955, it was extended to US 89A south of Flagstaff over a county highway as SR 79T. SR 79T was to exist only until the proposed federal aid route between Camp Verde and Flagstaff was completed. In 1962, SR 79's new routing was complete, and part of the temporary routing was abandoned back to county ownership. The remainder of SR 79T was retired in 1964. SR 79 was extended north to US 66 in 1964. In August 1992, this route was cancelled, and the current SR 79 was assigned, as the old SR 79 became part of Interstate 17, causing the cancellation of US 89 south of Flagstaff, with one section renumbered to the current SR 79. Junction list SR 79 Business State Business Route 79 (SR 79 Bus.) is a business loop in central Arizona. It lies entirely within the town limits of Florence located in Pinal County. This route used to be designated as both US 80 Business and US 89 Business. SR 79 Business is also the only active business route of a state route in Arizona. The road begins south of town at its parent State Route 79 near the Central Arizona Project canal and travels northbound on Main