Arizona State Route 79  State Route 79 (SR 79), also known as the Pinal Pioneer Parkway, is a long state highway in the U.S. state of Arizona. It serves as the main route through the town of Florence, which is also the county seat of Pinal County. Although the highway has been part of the state highway system since at least 1926, it was not designated as SR 79 until 1992. The highway was previously a section of U.S. Route 80 and U.S. Route 89 between Phoenix and Tucson, until both highways were decommissioned in 1977 and 1992 respectively. SR 79 is also the only state highway in Arizona that has a business route, which is SR 79 Business through downtown Florence. SR 79 is also notable for being the location where cowboy western actor Tom Mix lost his life in a car accident on October 14, 1940. SR 79 begins at an intersection with State Route 77 in the unincorporated locality of Oracle Junction. From this point, it heads northwest through state owned land plentiful with Saguaro cacti on either side of the highway. The southern portion of SR 79 from Oracle Junction to just south of Florence is designated Pinal Pioneer Parkway, a scenic road of the high desert plain with views of the Santa Catalina and Tortilla Mountains. This stretch of road was so designated by the Arizona State Highway Department on January 10, 1961. The first 40 miles of SR 79 is mostly uninhabited wilderness, with only a handful of small ranching communities siding the highway on occasion. Around north of SR 77, SR 79 crosses Olsen Wash and passes the Cadillac Chaparral Restaurants, one of the few notable man made features on this stretch of highway. North of Foreman Wash, the terrain becomes relatively flat and fairly featureless. SR 79 from this point on becomes a straight highway with no curves or turns. north of Oracle Junction, the highway passes the Tom Mix Memorial, located on the west side of the highway. This is where popular western actor Tom Mix died after his Cord 812 convertible crashed into what is now designated the Tom Mix Wash while bridge construction was incomplete. The single-car high-speed accident led to his death after leaving the Oracle Junction Inn in 1940. SR 79 curves again at the outskirts of Florence, crossing over the Central Arizona Project and Florence–Casa Grande Canal, before arriving at an intersection with SR 79 Business. SR 79 continues north skirting the eastern edge of town on Pinal Parkway Avenue, meeting both SR 79 Business and SR 287 at Butte Street.