An historic US highway endpoint in Albuquerque, NM

Research credits: Steve Riner. Photo credits: me

When US 66 was originally commissioned, it ran north/south through Albuquerque along 4th Street (it was concurrent with US 85 from near Las Vegas NM all the way through Santa Fe and Albuquerque to Los Lunas). At the time, Central Avenue east of 4th was designated US 470, while Central west of 4th was NM hwy. 6. In 1932 US 470 was renumbered to US 366.

But in about 1937, US 66 was rerouted along a new alignment which bypassed Las Vegas, Santa Fe, and Los Lunas. Instead, it essentially followed the route of today's I-40. In Albuquerque, US 66 now followed Central Av, thus running through the city in a direction perpendicular to its original route.

This is a fact not lost on Albuquerque's urban planners: the intersection of these two former alignments (4th and Central) has become "ground zero" for the city's enthusiastic celebration of its fortune to be located on historic route 66. Note the design on the route 66 emblem found on street signs in this area:

me, June 2006

Note also the art deco typeface used on the street sign - that was a trendy style during the early years of the US route system. The photo below was taken looking north on 4th:

me, June 2006

Originally this was northbound US 85/eastbound US 66. To the right on Central was the west beginning of US 470, and later US 366. Today 4th north of Central is not open to vehicle traffic - it's more of a pedestrian mall. You can see the large clock tower that's been installed there. That's something of an outdoor art piece commemorating historic highways in general, and US 66 in particular. Below is a close-up:

me, June 2006

At the bottom, an arrow points left (west) to Los Angeles (790 miles), and right (east) to Chicago (1345 miles). The two signs in the middle are replicas of typical signs that were installed in 1914 by AAA clubs along the National Old Trails Road, which later became US 66 - below is an even closer shot of those:

me, June 2006

What a great site for roadgeeks! The photo below shows the opposite side of the tower (looking south on 4th):

me, June 2006

From that perspective, US 470/US 366 began to the left. The shot below was taken looking west on Central:

me, June 2006

US 470 (and later US 366) ended at the light (4th). Just to the right of the camera is a "Historic Route" marker...

me, June 2006

...and other references to US 66 are also visible in that scene. You can see part of the tower in the distance; below is a close-up:

me, June 2006

From this direction, the arrows point right (north) to Denver (446 miles) and left (south) to El Paso (268 miles). These are points along "El Camino Real", which later became US 85, but of course that route is not nearly as well-known as US 66.