Interstate 40 in New Mexico

This article is about the section of highway in New Mexico. For the entire length of highway, see Interstate 40.

Interstate 40
Route information
Maintained by NMDOT
Length:	373.510 mi (601.106 km)
Existed:	1957 – present
Major junctions
West end:	I-40 at the Arizona state line
	US 491 in Gallup I-25 / US 85 in Albuquerque US 285 near Clines Corners US 54 / US 84 in Santa Rosa US 54 in Tucumcari
East end:	I-40 at the Texas state line
Location
Counties:	McKinley, Cibola, Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Torrance, Guadalupe, Quay
Highway system
Main route of the Interstate Highway System Main • Auxiliary • Business State Roads in New Mexico US • State • Minor ← NM 39 NM 41 →

Interstate 40 in eastern New Mexico

Interstate 40, a major east–west route of the Interstate Highway System, runs east–west through Albuquerque in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the direct replacement for the historic U.S. Route 66 in New Mexico.

Route description

Arizona to Albuquerque

As I-40 enters New Mexico in a northeasterly direction it begins following the basin of the intermittent Puerco River, roughly tracing the southern edge of the contiguous part of the Navajo Reservation in the state. The freeway enters Gallup twenty miles (32 km) later paralleling the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway's southern transcontinental mainline. Leaving Gallup the now more easterly I-40 passes to the north of Fort Wingate and part of the fragmented Cibola National Forest before crossing the North American continental divide at an elevation of 7,275 ft (2,217 m), with 11,305 ft (3,446 m) stratavolcano Mt. Taylor towering to the east.

The highway traverses more of the Navajo Reservation and the Cibola Forest before turning southeast and crossing a malpaís. After serving interchanges near Grants, the freeway, coinciding with the northern boundary of El Malpais National Monument, crosses another malpaís, turns east and enters the Acoma Indian Reservation, home of the Acoma Pueblo. The route leaves the Acoma Indian Reservation with Mt. Taylor to the north and enters the Laguna Pueblo. Near the interchange with NM-6 the railway line that accompanies much of the route from the Arizona border diverts to the south while the freeway turns east by northeast towards Albuquerque. The route departs the Laguna Pueblo, briefly transits the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation (a chapter of the Navajo Nation), crosses the Rio Puerco and begins a steep climb to the top of a mesa marked by several small cinder cones overlooking the Rio Grande rift and Albuquerque.

History

Planning and construction of Interstate 40 through New Mexico began shortly after the Federal Highway Act of 1956 created the Interstate Highway System. First sections of I-40 through the state were completed by 1960 including a short section west of Tucumcari in Quay County, from a point just west of Santa Rosa west past Clines Corners to just east of Moriarty, along with a section on the east side of Albuquerque and another section from near Cubero to Grants, which included a new spur route connecting the Interstate Highway with U.S. 66 on that city's east side. Construction of I-40, generally paralleling the existing U.S. 66 in some sections and replacing the older route in others, was hobbled for a few years during this decade by the New Mexico Legislature's passage of an Anti-Bypassing Law that prohibited the construction of an interstate bypass around a city or town opposed to it. That law was repealed in 1966 following a threat of loss of federal funds and most New Mexico cities along I-40, I-25 and I-10 then worked out agreements with state and federal highway officials in determining where the bypass routes around their municipalities should be located.

By the end of the 1960s, most rural sections of I-40 were completed across the state with the largest exception being a 40-mile (64 km) stretch east of Tucumcari to the Texas border at Glenrio, where traffic was diverted to the old U.S. 66. That section of highway by this time became locally and nationally known as "Slaughter Lane" due to tremendous amounts of traffic for a two-lane highway along with rough and narrow paving which led to numerous injury and fatal traffic accidents that reached epidemic numbers in 1968 and 1969. Construction on this section of I-40 was held up by a dispute at San Jon concerning a proposed routing of I-40 bypassing that city to the north by some five miles (8 km), which was resolved in November, 1969 when federal and state officials agreed to bring the bypass closer to the city along its northern limits. However, aside from a few small villages such as Montoya, Newkirk and Cuervo in the eastern portion of the state and Laguna, Budville and Cubero to the west, no major bypasses had been entirely completed in New Mexico so traffic was still diverted over the U.S. 66 routes through each of those cities.

In 1970, I-40 was entirely completed through the city of Albuquerque. Other bypasses were completed around various cities through the state including San Jon and Tucumcari (1981), Santa Rosa (1972), Moriarty (1973), Grants (1974) and Gallup (1980).

Exit list

County	Location	Mile	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Arizona–New Mexico state line			Continuation into Arizona
McKinley			8	NM 118 – Defiance, Manuelito
	Gallup		16	I-40 Bus. east / NM 118 – Gallup
			20	US 491 north / NM 602 south (Munoz Boulevard) – Shiprock, Zuni
			22	Miyamura Drive, Montoya Boulevard
			26	I-40 Bus. west / NM 118 – Gallup
			33	NM 400 south – McGaffey
			36	NM 118 west – Iyanbito
			39	Refinery
			44	Coolidge
			47	NM 122 east – Continental Divide
	Thoreau		53	NM 371 / NM 612 – Thoreau
			63	NM 412 – Prewitt
Cibola			72	NM 606 – Bluewater Village
	Milan		79	I-40 Bus. east to NM 122 to NM 509 to NM 605 – Milan, San Mateo, Chaco Culture National Historical Park
	Grants		81	NM 53 to I-40 Bus. to NM 122 – San Rafael, Grants	Signed as exits 81A (south) and 81B (north) eastbound
			85	I-40 Bus. west / NM 547 – Grants, Mount Taylor
			89	NM 117 – Quemado
			96	NM 124 – McCartys, Acoma, Sky City
			100	San Fidel
			102	Acomita, Acoma, Sky City
			104	Cubero, Budville
			108	NM 23 – Casa Blanca, Paraje
			114	NM 124 west – Laguna
			117	Mesita
			126	NM 6 east – Los Lunas
			131	To'hajiilee
Bernalillo			140	Rio Puerco
			149	Historic US 66 (Central Avenue) / NM 500 / Vista de Atrisco Boulevard
	Albuquerque		153	98th Street
			154	NM 345 (Unser Boulevard)
			155	NM 448 (Coors Boulevard)
			157A	Rio Grande Boulevard
			157B	12th Street	Westbound exit is via exit 158; westbound 157B closed permanently
			158	8th Street, 6th Street
			159A	NM 47 (4th Street) / 2nd Street, University Boulevard – Downtown Albuquerque	Signed as exit 159D westbound
			159	I-25 (Pan American Freeway) – Santa Fe, Las Cruces	Signed as exits 159B (south) and 159C (north)
			160	Carlisle Boulevard
			161	San Mateo Boulevard
			162	Louisiana Boulevard
			164	Wyoming Boulevard
			165	Eubank Boulevard
			166	Juan Tabo Boulevard
			167	NM 556 / Historic US 66 (Tramway Boulevard) / Central Avenue
			170	NM 333 – Carnuel
			175	NM 14 / NM 337 – Tijeras, Cedar Crest
			178	Zuzax
			181	To NM 217 – Sedillo
Santa Fe	Edgewood		187	NM 344 – Edgewood
Torrance	Moriarty		194	I-40 Bus. east / Historic US 66 – Moriarty
			196	NM 41 (Howard Cavasos Boulevard)
			197	I-40 Bus. west / Historic US 66 – Moriarty	Access to eastbound I-40 only; access to westbound I-40 via Howard Cavasos Boulevard
			203	(no name)
			208	Wagon Wheel
			218A	Clines Corners	Westbound exit only
			218B	US 285 – Vaughn, Santa Fe	Signed as exit 218 eastbound
			226	(no name)
			230	NM 3 – Encino, Villanueva
			234	(no name)
			239	(no name)
Guadalupe			243	(no name) Milagro	Signed as exits 243B and 243A westbound (both unnamed)
			252	(no name)
			256	US 84 north (NM 219 south) – Las Vegas	West end of US 84 overlap
			263	San Ignacio
			267	Colonias
	Santa Rosa		273	I-40 Bus. east (US 84) – Santa Rosa	East end of US 84 overlap
			275	Santa Rosa (I-40 Bus. / US 54 / US 84)
			277	I-40 Bus. west / US 54 west / US 84 – Santa Rosa, Fort Sumner	West end of US 54 overlap
			284	(no name)
			291	Cuervo
			300	NM 129 – Newkirk
Quay			311	Montoya
			321	Palomas
			329	I-40 Bus. east / Historic US 66 / US 54 east (West Tucumcari Boulevard)	East end of US 54 overlap
			331	Camino del Coronado – Tucumcari
	Tucumcari		332	NM 209 / NM 104 (1st Street)
			333	US 54 east (Mountain Road)
			335	I-40 Bus. west / Historic US 66 (East Tucumcari Boulevard)
			339	NM 278
			343	(no name)
	San Jon		356	NM 469 / Historic US 66 – San Jon
			361	Bard
			369	NM 93 south / NM 392 north – Endee
New Mexico–Texas state line			Continuation into Texas
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi      Concurrency terminus •      Closed/former •      Incomplete access •      Unopened

External links

Media related to Interstate 40 in New Mexico at Wikimedia Commons

Interstate 40
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