Route 66: Glenrio to Albuquerque
Across the eastern plains from the ghost town on the Texas line through Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, on the 1937 cut-off that bypassed Santa Fe, to Albuquerque's Central Avenue.
The Route at a Glance
Route 66 entered New Mexico at Glenrio, a town built across the Texas line that emptied after Interstate 40 passed it by in 1973. West of Glenrio about fifteen miles of the old road survive as gravel to San Jon, and from there the highway and the interstate run side by side across the plains. This route follows I-40, about 230 miles to Albuquerque, stepping off into the towns where the old road still runs through.
Tucumcari kept its strip, a few miles of motor courts and neon along Route 66 Boulevard, among them the Blue Swallow Motel, built in 1939. Santa Rosa, on the Pecos, calls itself the City of Natural Lakes, and the Blue Hole sits a few blocks off the old road through town.
Santa Rosa is where the road's two versions part. From 1926 to 1937 Route 66 turned north here through Dilia and Romeroville, followed the Santa Fe Trail to Santa Fe, and then ran south down the Rio Grande through Albuquerque to Los Lunas. In 1937 it was cut straight west across the high plateau by Clines Corners and Moriarty to Albuquerque, a far shorter road, and I-40 was later built largely by adding a second pair of lanes to that shortcut. Cuervo, west of Santa Rosa, is one of the towns the interstate left behind; its stone church of 1915 still stands.
In Albuquerque the old road becomes Central Avenue, running past motels and neon through Nob Hill and downtown, and the route ends on the city's West Mesa at Petroglyph National Monument. The drive is open year-round, though winter storms can close I-40 for hours at a time.
The Drive, Stop by Stop
3 stops along the route, in driving order from Glenrio, New Mexico to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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- 2
- 3
That's the drive. Take your time, pull over often, and let Route 66: Glenrio to Albuquerque do what it does best.
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