 |
Besides being a picture of my friend Lowell Nafziger of Rockford, Illinois, taking my picture, it's also a depiction of the sometimes haphazard route marking one commonly finds in New Mexico. This is the junction of U.S. 64 and NM-68 in Taos, and though it's not evident from this angle, the road also goes straight through the intersection into the Plaza. As the NM-68 sign on the signal post indicates, 68 goes to the left, while (even though you're not told) U.S. 64 turns right. The NM-68 sign you see is the only sign that directs traffic at this intersection. There is no advance signage describing this junction or the destination cities, and nothing to indicate that U.S. 64 goes to the right. I wonder how much traffic blunders straight ahead into the Taos Plaza. | ||
| A close-up of the
NM-68 sign on the signal post, showing the odd smaller
font used for the numbers and the larger diameter zia
than normal on the sign. Seems counterintuitive to use
this layout for two-digit numbers. Barely readable on the signal crossarm is the sign for EB U.S. 64 traffic, indicating NM 68 goes straight and "NM 64" goes left. |
 |
||
|
Rich Piehl was kind
enough to take pictures of examples of New Mexico's
unique Travelers Services signs that are placed on the
Interstates approaching medium-sized cities (generally
those in the 5000-25,000 population range). These signs
enumerate the types of travelers' services available
there. I'm always intrigued by the "modern"
service stations line. (Not counted are stations with a
glass reservoir on the top of the pump, I guess). The first picture at left was taken on I-40 approaching Grants in a snow storm, thus the fuzzy photo. Milan is a smaller town just west of Grants and located more or less on the same business loop of I-40, though there is an intervening exit. I guess Milan isn't big enough for its own Travelers Services sign. The lower picture is approaching Gallup, the next day after the storm had moved through. Gallup is larger than Grants and thus has more to offer. These Travelers Services signs are in addition to the standard services signs featuring logos of businesses near the freeway. |
||
 |
State Entrances: This is the sign entering north of Costilla on NM-522 that used to be at the top of the home page. Until a few years ago, New Mexico used this as their standard WELCOME sign on more major routes. | ||
 |
There are other styles as well,
though. Here are a couple more subdued welcome signs. First, left is the entrance at NM-551 (CO-389) just south of Branson, CO. The hill in the background is Davis Mesa, part of the Raton Mesa complex of volcanic hills that extends east into Oklahoma. Note that the No Littering message is far more prominent than the welcome. |
||
 |
This is the entrance from Oklahoma (OK-325) onto NM-456 just west of Kenton, OK. This sign is colored differently from the one above. There is still a prominent No Littering sign in the background. | ||
 |
Looking the other way at the same location, there is a partially inaccurate sign posted. It is the end of New Mexico state maintenance, but the Carrizozo Creek bridge is under Oklahoma DOT jurisdiction. At the end of the bridge is an empty sign frame that once held a "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign. The first OK-325 marker is just around the curve at the end of the bridge. I need to return to see if there is now a new "meat cleaver" OK marker there. | ||
|
The Two Corners! The Four Corners is so overdone, we decided to look for the northeast corner of New Mexico, where it joins Oklahoma and Colorado. It's not hard to find and doesn't require the Jeep we used to get there. This monument, constructed around 1909 (before New Mexico became a state, and only two years after Oklahoma did), is located at the precise state corner as evidenced by sighting along two fence lines that follow the New Mexico border. Some wanker thoughtfully removed the USGS benchmark that had been set in the top of the monument. | ||
| Looks like a nice sign cluster in
Deming, along E. Pine Street. Trouble is --- U.S. 70
isn't routed through Deming, though the detail on any of
my maps isn't sufficient to define when U.S. 70 was
pulled off what is now BL I-10. I'd guess no later than
1988, since that's when New Mexico began to make its
remaining U.S. routes that ran concurrent with
interstates "invisible." And even more unusual,
U.S. 80 hasn't existed in New
Mexico since about 1990. Now, maybe NMDOT is just
forgetful, but the U.S. 70 sign is a modern-design, metal
sign, and the date on the back indicates it was installed
in 2002. The U.S. 80 sign is the older style sign made of
wood, so it probably dates from the 1980s if not before
(no date on it). Unless I missed something on the western
side of town, these are the only markers for either of
these routes in the city. Certainly nothing is marked
from I-10 except BL I-10. Photo taken March 2008 |
 |
||
 |
And for an even whackier piece of
signage, how about this from Lordsburg? Before I-10, this
was the U.S. 70-80 junction, and if you substitute U.S.
80 for the NM-80 signs, it was quite correct. Now, when
U.S. 80 was eliminated in New Mexico, it ran concurrent
with I-10 (with the possible exception of loops through
the three largest cities along I-10), except for the
short piece that ran completely independent of the
interstate. That segment began several miles west of
Lordsburg, ran south and west and entered Arizona. It
then looped south as far as the Mexican border at Douglas
and then back northwest to rejoin I-10 at Benson. When 80
was decommissioned as a U.S. route, both Arizona and New
Mexico redesignated that road as AZ- and NM-80
respectively. But, that route does not extend as far east
as Lordsburg, and thus the NM-80 signs here are
completely erroneous. In fairness, these old signs are behind a diagrammatic BGS (Big Green Sign) that accurately shows the connections at this interchange with BL I-10 (old U.S. 80 through Lordsburg), and has no mention of any kind of route 80. Photo taken March 2008 |
