Arizona TransportationFrom the very beginning of Arizona transportation, until the last decade of the 19th century, the principal reason for the development of transportation was to open routes to California.
The first wagon road across Arizona was the Gila Trail (Cooke's Wagon Road), opened in 1846 as a southern route to California: Beale's Road was inaugurated in 1857. Until the 1880s, the bulk of territorial commerce was by water transport on the Colorado River. The state's two Class I railroads, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific, controlled about two-thirds of Arizona's total rail miles. In 1998, the top rail tonnage commodities originating from within the state included metallic ores and glass and stone. That year, over half the rail tonnage terminating within the state was coal/coke. Amtrak provides limited passenger service through Flagstaff, Kingman, and other cities in the north, and through Tucson, Phoenix, and Yuma on the southern route. In 2000, the state had 55,195 mi (88,827 km) of public streets and roads, of which 36,989 mi (59,528 km) were classified as rural and 18,206 mi (29,299 km) as urban. Interstate highways in Arizona totaled 1,168 mi (1,879 km). Arizona had 195 airports and 104 heliports in 2002. The leading air terminal was Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport; Tucson International Airport ranked second. 
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