Arizona State Route 87

State Route 87
Route information
	Maintained by ADOT
Length:	272.66 mi (438.80 km)
Existed:	1927 – present
Major junctions
South end:	SR 84 near Picacho
	SR 202 in Chandler; US 60 in Mesa; SR 202 in Mesa; I-40 in Winslow
North end:	SR 264 near Second Mesa
Highway system

Driving south on AZ 87, from WInslow to Strawberry.

State Route 87 (SR 87) is a north–south road that travels from SR 84 near Picacho, Arizona northward to SR 264 near Second Mesa.

Route description [edit]

The Picacho post office, near the present southern terminus of AZ 87

The road that becomes Route 87 begins at Second Mesa, Arizona. It becomes a state route when it crosses the reservation boundary line and it ends at Interstate 10 exit 211, just south of Eloy, Arizona in the unincorporated town of Picacho.

Route 87 is known as the Beeline Highway from Payson through Fountain Hills to its terminus at McDowell Road, just north of Mesa. All of this portion of Route 87 is a four-lane highway. There is a stretch of road where the highway splits, taking different canyons through the Mazatzal Mountains south of Payson, near the junction with SR 188. The old alignment is currently the southbound lanes, while a new alignment was built for the northbound lanes. There is a stretch where the roads cross-over each other because of the difference in elevations of the two canyons.

Once it gets to Mesa, Route 87 is known as Country Club Drive, a major-arterial street, six lanes wide in most sections. It then enters Chandler where it becomes Arizona Avenue. The Chandler section of SR 87 is discontinuous, with most of Arizona Avenue being owned and maintained by the city except in the area surrounding Loop 202 (SanTan Freeway) and the stretch 1/4 mile south of Riggs Road to the southern city limits at Hunt Highway, where Route 87 resumes and proceeds southeasterly as a two-lane rural road through the Gila River Indian Community until it reaches Coolidge.

In Coolidge, Route 87 is known as Arizona Blvd. It finally ends 16 miles (26 km) south of Coolidge, near the unincorporated town of Picacho, Arizona. The original southern terminus was 1/2 mile to the north of I-10 at its junction with State Route 84 until 2004 when Route 87 was extended to serve the 1/2 mile decertified SR 84 stretch.

Route 87 is part of the National Highway System between I-10 and Payson. ADOT is currently studying a stretch of I-10 to widen and improve interchanges along its stretch from Tucson to Casa Grande, including the interchange with Route 87.^[2] Stretches of this road were formerly numbered as State Route 65 and State Route 166.

Notable destinations along Route 87 include the Mogollon Rim and Tonto Natural Bridge.

Junctions [edit]

County	Location	Destinations	Notes
Pinal		I-10 – Tucson, Phoenix
		SR 84 west	North end of SR 84 concurrency
		SR 287 west – Casa Grande	South end of SR 287 concurrency
	Coolidge	SR 287 east – Florence	North end of SR 287 concurrency
		SR 387 west to I-10
		SR 187 south to I-10 – Casa Grande
Maricopa–Pinal county line	Chandler	SR 587 south to I-10
Maricopa	Chandler	SR 202 (Santan Freeway)	SR 87 is discontinuous throughout much of Chandler, with most of Arizona Avenue being owned and maintained by the city. The only portions where SR 87 exists in Chandler are from Hunt Highway to 1/4 mile south of Riggs Road, and the area surrounding Loop 202.
	Mesa	US 60 – Globe, Phoenix
	Mesa	SR 202 (Red Mountain Freeway)
Gila		SR 188 – Roosevelt, Globe
Gila	Payson	SR 260 east – Heber, Show Low	South end of SR 260 concurrency
Coconino		SR 260 west – Camp Verde	North end of SR 260 concurrency
Navajo	Winslow	SR 99 east	South end of SR 99 concurrency
		SR 99 west – Flagstaff	North end of SR 99 concurrency
		I-40 – Flagstaff, Albuquerque
		SR 264 – Tuba City, Keams Canyon
Concurrency terminus Closed/former HOV only Incomplete access Tolled/ETC Unopened