Historic US highway endpoints in Santa Fe NM

Highway	Approx. time period
US 485	1926-1932
US 64	1932-1974
US 84	1940-1943

Photo credits: me. Map scan: Robert Droz

At first glance, I-25's route through New Mexico seems kind of strange. South of Las Vegas, the highway turns west, and then northwest towards Santa Fe, before finally curving back to the south. Primarily this is for geographic reasons: mountains and mesas in that area stand in the way of a more direct route to Santa Fe. But it's also somewhat political: if there was no important city located where Santa Fe is, then my guess is that I-25 would've been built along a more direct route between Las Vegas and Albuquerque.

Anyway, given those factors, I-25 does follow the shortest route possible: it skirts the south edge of Santa Fe, missing the downtown area by about three miles. But I-25's precursor (US 85) went even further north - all the way to the Plaza - before turning back south again. Coming down from Glorieta Pass, I-25 veers away from the historic corridor of US 85 at about exit 284. From there, southbound US 85 continued north on College Street (now called Old Pecos Trail), and then Old Santa Fe Trail - I'm talking nearly due north - all the way into downtown. At the Plaza, traffic turned west on San Francisco Street for two blocks, then back south again on Galisteo Street, and out of town via Cerrillos Road. An amazingly circuitous route. (But don't get me wrong: downtown Santa Fe is certainly worth a visit!)

Now that we've established the original routing of US 85, I should quickly mention that this was also the route of US 66. Until it was rerouted in 1937, US 66 and US 85 were concurrent from near Las Vegas to beyond Albuquerque. So in the descriptions below, where I say "US 85", keep in mind it was also US 66.

Now we can finally get to the main topic of this page: other US highways that terminated at their junction with US 85. When the US route system began in 1926, US 64 made it only as far west as Capulin NM (east of Raton). The road from Raton through Taos and Espanola to Santa Fe was designated US 485 (it connected with US 85 on both ends). This highway came into Santa Fe via Taos Highway and Grant Avenue. Beyond there, it gets a little tricky: even maps from the 1930's show US 485 using multiple roads to reach US 85 at the Plaza...

Rand McNally, c. 1934

...my belief is that's because one-way roads had already been established in Santa Fe back then. In general I don't think one-ways were very common in the 1930's, but Santa Fe may have been an exception: it's a very old city, and many of the central streets are quite narrow. To this day, it's much easier to walk around downtown than to drive.

So my best guess is that southbound US 485 continued down Grant to Palace Avenue; then east two blocks; then south on Lincoln Avenue, skirting the west side of the Plaza, and ending at San Francisco (US 85). But I think northbound US 485 ran along the east side of the Plaza. The photos below will help to explain - this first one is looking north on Old Santa Fe Trail (which, as I said, was southbound US 85):

me, June 2006

The small trees visible at far left are in the east side of the Plaza. (Between those and the large tree in the background, you can see part of the Palace of the Governors: now a historical museum, but previously the original Capitol, back when Santa Fe was still a part of Mexico.) If you followed Old Santa Fe Trail's slight jog to the left and continued straight ahead, you would've been on the south beginning of US 485. (That appears to have followed Washington Avenue north to Temple Place [now part of Paseo de Peralta]; then west to Grant; then north out of town.) Southbound US 85 continued by turning left here on San Francisco. If you do that today, you'll see what's pictured in the photo below:

me, June 2006

There the view is west on San Francisco, or still southbound on US 85. Just to the right of the camera is the south side of the Plaza. Southbound US 485 would've come in from the right, on Lincoln. If you turn around from that spot, you'll have a view similar to what's shown below:

me, June 2006

That's looking east on San Francisco, or historic northbound US 85 (in the distance is the St. Francis Cathedral). Southbound US 485 came in from Lincoln (off to the left of the camera). At the traffic light ahead, northbound US 85 went right on Old Santa Fe Trail, while northbound US 485 departed to the left.

In about 1932, the US 64 designation was extended west from Capulin to Raton, and then southwest to Santa Fe, replacing what had been US 485. So for a time, US 64's west end and beginning were the same locations described above. Also, in the early-1940s, US 84's west end was in Santa Fe; it likely shared the Plaza terminus with US 64. But in the mid- to late-1950s, Santa Fe built a new preferred entrance from the north. Instead of the Old Taos Highway, traffic was directed to use Jefferson Street (now called Guadalupe Street). At Water Street, US 64 turned east (you can't do that anymore: Water was vacated between Guadalupe and Sandoval Street, where the Hilton stands now). US 64 ended one block past Sandoval, at Galisteo (US 85). Below we're looking east on Water:

me, June 2006

The car is stopped at the historic end of US 64 - southbound US 85 was to the right on Galisteo, and northbound went left for one block before turning east on San Francisco. The view below is north on Galisteo:

me, June 2006

That was northbound US 85, and the west beginning of US 64 was to the left on Water. This last photo is looking west on Water:

me, June 2006

The crossroad ahead is Galisteo, and on the far side of that was the beginning of US 64 (it used to go straight through where the building now stands in the background).