West To Dateland

  From the ghost town of Aztec, there is a 6 mile segment of Old U.S. Highway 80 that parallels Interstate 8 on the south. I have driven this stretch several times, and it is a much more peaceful drive than the interstate, which closely parallels the old highway. It is a little rough in spots, but it is very driveable in a passenger car. For four of these six miles, there is an even older alignment paralleling Old Highway 80 on the south, between the highway and the railroad tracks. I am undecided about whether or not highway 80 was a 4-lane, divided highway for  4 miles, or if it was just re-routed slightly to the north. It seems unlikely that it would have just been re-routed a few feet to the north for 4 miles with the distance between the westbound lanes and eastbound lanes being the exactly the width one would find in a typical median strip on a divided highway, but why would it only be a divided highway for 4 miles? Were there plans to make it a divided highway for a much longer distance but the plans were interrupted by the construction of the interstate? Also, if highway crew were in the process of turning it into a divided highway, why not start from Yuma instead of one mile east of Dateland in a remote area?   At any rate, it looks like it was a divided highway for these 4 miles and that is the assumption I am going on until I find out otherwise.
  That being said, the more southerly alignment, what I believe were the eastbound lanes of the divided highway, is now completely abandoned and is partially overgrown by weeds and grass. The former westbound lanes now carry two-way traffic. The bridges over washes, or dry streambeds, are still intact. It is now a county-maintained road. 
  One mile east of Dateland, the abandoned alignment ends and Old Highway 80 becomes a typical two-lane highway with wide shoulders.
  Dateland, Arizona has a population of 440 people, which is a slight decrease from the 2000 Census when it had 482 people. Dateland is also at an elevation of 440 feet above sea level, so the population and elevation match. The 440 foot elevation makes Dateland the highest town in Yuma County. The highest point in Yuma County, Signal Peak, is 4,877 feet above sea level. It is on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.