Arizona State Route 74
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by ADOT | ||||
| Length: | 30.40 mi (48.92 km) | |||
| Existed: | 1964 – present | |||
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| West end: |
 US 60 near Morristown
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| East end: |
 I-17 in Phoenix
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Arizona State Route 74 (SR 74), locally known as the Carefree Highway, is a state highway in central Arizona that stretches east to west from its junction with U.S. Route 60 (US 60) just south of Wickenburg to its junction with Interstate 17 (I-17) in North Phoenix. It serves Lake Pleasant Regional Park and serves as a northern bypass around the often congested stretches of US 60 through the northwest suburbs of the Phoenix metropolitan area. From end to end, it is 30.4 miles (48.9 km) long.
The Carefree Highway is the inspiration for a Gordon Lightfoot song of the same name.
Stretches of the highway are known as the Morristown-New River Highway, Lake Pleasant Highway, and Carefree Highway, the last of which actually extends 12 miles (19 km) past I-17 to Tom Darlington Drive in Carefree. This stretch of Carefree Highway is sometimes numbered as SR 74 on maps, but is not actually part of the state highway system.
This route offers good views of undeveloped desert landscapes, especially of large saguaro and other desert plants. It is frequently used as an alternate route to US 60 (Grand Avenue) between Phoenix and Wickenburg for motorists traveling to and from Las Vegas, Nevada, with fewer traffic signals than using US 60 directly.
From 1927 to 1932, SR 74 was assigned from Wickenburg west to Ehrenberg; this stretch of highway was renumbered as part of US 60. In 1961, SR 74 was assigned to a new planned alignment, to be built from New River southwest to Morristown. The leg east of Lake Pleasant Regional Park was originally planned to angle northeast away from its current alignment. But by 1974, the highway heading eastbound abruptly ended southeast of Lake Pleasant, at Lake Pleasant Road and the Carefree Highway; that same year, Carefree Hwy. between SR 74 and I-17 was designated SR 74T (Temporary 74). On October 18, 1989, the "Temporary" banner was officially removed from the Carefree Hwy. leg.
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