towns along US 66 to block the construction of any further bypasses. The bypass revolts gained considerable attention in the Arizona State Government, with state legislators considering the idea of banning freeway bypasses in Arizona. In the end, the movements did little to stifle the Interstate construction. However, the movement did give the many communities along US 66 some extra time. The state government agreed not to construct the bypasses until all other sections of I-40 had been completed, in hopes of giving the US 66 towns time to adjust to the upcoming changes. In 1978, the I-40 bypasses were completed around Seligman and Kingman. The Seligman bypass was followed by three bypasses around Ash Fork, Winslow and Holbrook opening in 1979. Despite being open to traffic, the Holbrook bypass would not be completed until 1981. The Joseph City bypass was completed and opened in September 1980. The final bypass was opened around Williams on October 13, 1984, receiving a special ceremony. By far the largest bypass was the section of I-40 constructed between Kingman and Ash Fork. Rather than follow US 66, which formed a roughly arc shaped path through Valentine, Peach Springs and Hackberry, this section of the Interstate went straight east, leaving several communities and a large section of US 66 several miles north of the new main highway. This entire section was completed in 1978. As I-40 replaced US 66, the old highway's popularity greatly declined. Business along the route began declining as fewer and fewer people drove through the old towns. Slowly, many towns declined or were outright abandoned and became ghost towns, including tourist towns like Two Guns. Many residents of the declining US 66 towns described the loss of business being instantaneous, happening right after the bypasses opened. The Interstate bypasses also meant the end of US 66 as an active highway, in conjunction with California concurrently removing its section of US 66 from the state highway system between 1964 and 1974, which moved the western terminus of the entire highway to the Colorado River in Topock, Arizona. The same year, US 66 was also truncated in the east from Chicago to Joplin, Missouri. Despite California's lack of recognition of US 66 as an active highway, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) recognized the new western terminus of the highway at US 95 in Needles, across the river from