All photos are eastbound. I'm so glad I picked that direction.


What happened to Terminal 1?


All traces of the former AZ 153 have supposedly been obliterated. Well, define obliterated, because I can still see the 153 number peeking through the brown patches. And, of course, being much newer than the rest of the sign, the patches are quite obviously hiding a shield. You also get a plethora of brown Loop 202 shields, rapidly disappearing elsewhere, because they're the same color as the sign background. Westbound, there's comparatively nothing worth seeing.


Although AZ 153 no longer exists, it still serves the critical function of carrying airport traffic south to AZ 143 and I-10. That ought to be worth keeping a highway designation around, but Phoenix wanted to own the freeway so that it could build the Sky Train over the old SB lanes. Hey, Phoenix? You only needed the road north of Sky Harbor Blvd. Shoulda kept AZ 153 to the south.


Once off airport property, airport signs disappear and ADOT's traditional button copy returns. Here you have a typical Arizona-shaped patch over an AZ 153 shield instead of a more usual square patch (much easier to cut, hides just as well) and a formerly brown Loop 202 shield. It was clear from the airport signs that the sun has been beating down quite fiercely during the afternoon, leaving this as the worst example of fading I've seen for a 202 shield. Many other shields are still brown, by comparison. Now you understand why they're being replaced by ordinary black-on-white shields - but no one will understand why Loops 101 and 303 had to suffer a similar fate.

Onto 44th St. (old AZ 153)
Onto AZ 143
To I-10
Onto AZ Loop 202
Back to Arizona Roads
Back to Roads