Telegraph Pass

  After Old U.S. Highway 80 rejoins Interstate 8, at Exit #21, the freeway alomost immediately begins climbing through the Gila Mountains, which are also known as the Fortuna Mountains, the name I prefer. A few miles farther east, the railroad curves to the north and goes around the north end of the mountain range and then loops back south to Yuma, but U.S. Highway 80 made its way through the mountain range and, now, Interstate 8 closely follows the old highway's former path up and over Telegraph Pass.
  I am not really sure what the elevation is at the summit of Telegraph Pass because it seems like every map I have looked at and every book I have looked at gives a different elevation. I have seen the following elevations for Telegraph Pass: 767 feet above sea level; 844 feet above sea level; 921 feet above sea level; 1,052 feet above sea level; 1,107 feet above sea level and 1,903 feet above sea level. At any rate, it is a steep climb up and over the Fortuna Mountains. The elevation at Wellton, east of the mountain range, is 256 feet and the elevation of Yuma, to the west, is 141 feet.
  When Interstate 8 threads its way through the mountain range, it is a dramatic ascent up to the pass and then an event steeper descent down the west side of the mountains. The first time I ever drove through this area, I was taken aback by the fact that while the freeway goes through the mountain range, the westbound lanes of the interstate cross over the eastbound lanes on a viaduct. The traffic goes on the left for slightly more than one mile and then the westbound lanes cross back over to the other side and resume their logical place. It is a little strange to see westbound traffic on the left and eastbound traffic on the right, reminiscent of the United Kingdom. Since then, one other highway in Arizona has been built in the same manner. State Highway 87  between Mesa and Payson was built in the same way when it was converted from a two-lane highway to a four-lane, divided highway. Traffic on Highway 87 goes on the left for about a mile.
 A drive up and over Telegraph Pass east of Yuma will reveal abandoned stretches of Old Highway 80 above the freeway. There is one piece of the old highway that is about 75 feet long and it just dead-ends on both ends of it and, beyond the dead-ends, are steep dropoffs to the freeway below.