End of historic US highway 485

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info below is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Photo credits: me

US 485 was one of the original 1926 routes; it was already decommissioned by 1931. It split off from US 85 near Raton and followed what is now US 64 to Taos; NM hwy. 68 from Taos to Espanola; and modern US 84/US 285 to its south end in Santa Fe (you can view photos from there on this page).

The north end of US 485 was in or near Raton NM. Today, I-25 follows a direct route southward from there to Maxwell NM. But US 85 didn't always follow that alignment - originally it was routed along what is now US 64 south and west of Raton, and then modern NM hwy. 445 due south to Maxwell. In fact, a historical marker in the area has a map that still shows US 85 on its historic routing:

me, Mar. 2005

New Mexico has decommissioned US 85 throughout the entire state, and for years now, the junction shown above as US 64 / US 85 has actually been the junction of US 64 / NM 445. It's referred to as "Hoxie Jct" on some maps - there's nothing there, but it's an interesting place because you can still see the former highway alignments. The photo below was heading out of Raton, looking west on US 64:

me, Mar. 2005

That used to be southbound US 85, which curved to the left via NM 445. If you look that direction, you can see the curve that US 85 used to follow:

me, Mar. 2005

Southbound US 85 continued that direction, while US 485 either began or split off by continuing off to the right via today's westbound US 64. The view below is at the north end of NM 445:

me, Mar. 2005

That used to be northbound US 85, which continued on the curve to the right until it joined what is now eastbound US 64. But as you can see, US 64 is the mainline today, and NM 445 curves back to the left to meet it at a perpendicular angle. Below we're looking east on US 64:

me, Mar. 2005

That was once northbound US 485. Southbound US 85 came towards the camera, and then continued on the curve to the right onto what is now NM 445. I haven't seen a map detailed enough to answer whether US 485 ended here at its junction with US 85, or if it was co-signed ahead with US 85 into Raton. If it did continue ahead, then it would've shared a common terminus with historic US 385 [I] in Raton; you can get more info and view photos from there on this page. US 485 was decommissioned when US 64 was signed along its route in 1932.