Retake of Driving on Benson Highway and Marsh Station Road in Vail, AZ

(Recorded August 14th 2024)

Recorded with my GoPro Hero 12 Black
Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro 2024

This is a retake of driving on Benson Highway and Marsh Station Road. My previous video had music and was taken on a stormy afternoon, I took this video in the morning around 11:00 AM when it was sunny. This road is historic as it used to be part of US-80 from the 1920s when it was first built until US-80 was relocated to a new alignment in this area in the 1950s. Marsh Station Road runs near the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and even passes over track #2 twice. We begin our drive heading northbound on Wentworth Road south of I-10 towards Vail. We cross over I-10, then turn onto Benson Highway. We then head east on Benson Highway, which used to be part of US-80, we then pass the interchange with State Route 83 and I-10. After passing the SR-83 interchange, we then continue heading east, where the road becomes Marsh Station Road. We then approach Cienega Creek Bridge, which we drive over at 11:15 in the video, near the Cienega Creek Bridge is the Cienega Railroad Bridge, which carries track #1. The Cienega Railroad Bridge was built in 1912, while the Cienega Creek Bridge was built in 1921 and carries Marsh Station Road (Originally US-80). We then drive over several more old bridges from the 1930s which are much smaller than the Cienega Creek Bridge. After that, we enter a newer section of Marsh Station Road, this section was constructed by ADOT in 2009-2011 as part of a major overhaul project of I-10. The railroad tracks and roadway were moved to a new interchange just east of the original interchange from the 1950s. Once the new interchange was completed in 2011, the original interchange with a low overpass over I-10 was demolished and the railroad tracks were relocated in 2013 to cross under the new Marsh Station overpass, and the original railroad overpass over I-10 was demolished. In 2013, the last phase of the project began, which was to reconstruct I-10 in the area where only a guardrail separated the eastbound and westbound lanes and reconstruct it to modern interstate highway standards, this project was completed in 2014. After we turn around at the interchange, we then head back the other way westbound. You will see a freight train on track #2 on the left side of the video as we head back the other way. After we head back to Wentworth Road, we head north through Vail, where we cross over the railroad tracks at two grade crossings shortly before the two tracks parallel next to each other west of Vail and into Tucson. After crossing the railroad tracks, we stop at the traffic signal of E Mary Ann Cleveland Way and E Colossal Cave Road, this is where I end our video for today.