New Mexico Roads - I-25/US 85

and (secret) US 85


Above: South Main St. in Las Cruces, NB at Lohman Ave. (NM 342).


Many inconsistencies between these SB signs - can you spot them all? I believe the current way to show a 3-digit route is in the oval, although standalone shields are still supposed to be circular.


Between NM 1 and NM 181, old US 85 has an abandoned bridge just west of I-25 as both new and old roads split the scenery down the middle. The bridge was closed recently enough that there's still a milepost on it - and if you click through at bottom to the NM 181 page, you'll see that the stub is still signed (improperly) as a state highway.

The next two photos are courtesy Michael Summa, and were taken in 1988.


NM 107 WB with an incompletely cut out state-name shield. NM 107 is mostly a gravel road, according to Steve Riner (link to his site below).


The size of the numerals hints at button-copy state-name shields to me, with a hint of closely-spaced arrows. As you can see, this is a four-lane highway, meaning the center two lanes each split.


Click to drive through the "Big I" interchange in downtown Albuquerque from I-25 NB to I-40 WB. It was redone within the last 10 years with a whole bunch of stacked ramps and seems way overpowered compared to the rest of the roadway network in the city, but it sure is pretty.


SB courtesy Adam Prince, the wrong font chooses I-25 NB.


To the north in Santa Fe, Michael Summa photographed these panel signs in 1988 that don't look like they could stand the test of time. Any amount of time.


Two Adam Prince photos at that exact same Exit 278, now in the modern day. Amazingly, it took an additional 20 years to get a state-name shield up there. The overhead gantry on the ramp may have new signs (with mismatched directions), but it is older than Summa's photos. Notice that I-25 Business is nowhere to be found nowadays.

Old US 85: NM 1, Exit 89 to NM 181, Truth or Consequences, NM 187, NM 185

Into Colorado on I-25
Into Colorado on US 85
Onto I-40
Exit 234 to NM 556
Exit 278 to NM 14
Exit 282 to US 84/285
Back to New Mexico Roads
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