State Route 87 (SR 87) is a north–south highway that travels from I-10 near Picacho northward to State Route 264 near Second Mesa.
Route description
SR 87 begins to the north of I-10 at a junction with an unsigned orphan segment of SR 84, which serves as a direct connection to I-10 at Exit 211.
Notable destinations along SR 87 include the Mogollon Rim and Tonto Natural Bridge.
In the 1930s Harvey Bush championed a highway from Mesa to Payson, crossing the Mazatzal Mountains, which became known as the Bush Highway. In the 1950s a cutoff was built between Mesa and the Saguaro Lake turnoff, bypassing a slow section of the Bush Highway and shortening the trip by 15 minutes. This cutoff was dubbed the Beeline Highway, and the name gradually came to apply to the entire route.
Gallery
<gallery perrow=2 widths=200px>
File:Driving south on AZ 87, from Winslow to Strawberry.jpg|Driving south on AZ 87, from Winslow to Strawberry.
File:Picacho Post Office.jpg|The Picacho post office, near the present southern terminus of AZ 87.
</gallery>