Route 66 bridge crossing becomes city landmark

Motorists driving over the Central Avenue Bridge between Tingley Beach and Sunset Road are driving down the newest city landmark.

Roger Zimmerman, former Albuquerque Historical Society president, told the Journal that the City Council’s April 3 decision to make the former U.S. Route 66 crossing into a city landmark is a “big deal.”

From 1926-1937, Route 66 in New Mexico ran from Texas to Arizona via Romeroville, Santa Fe, La Bajada, Bernalillo, Fourth Street in Albuquerque, Isleta Pueblo and Los Lunas before heading northwest toward Laguna Pueblo.

According to the city, the first Central Avenue Bridge was constructed in 1930 to provide highway access over the flood-prone Rio Grande and allow westward expansion of the city. With the completion of the Rio Puerco Bridge in 1933 and the Central Avenue Underpass in 1937, the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads adopted the Santa Rosa-Laguna Shortcut as the new east-west alignment of Route 66.

“It was the construction of the Central Avenue Bridge site that was the tipping point for the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads agreeing to the realignment of Route 66 through the state,” Zimmerman said. “After the completion of this bridge, the BPR started putting federal funds into bringing (New Mexico Highway) 6 up to Route 66 standards so the official realignment could occur in 1937.”

Zimmerman said that because of a growing number of motorists in the city, a second Central Avenue bridge was built in 1952, which “doubled the traffic capacity.”

By 1970, transcontinental traffic decreased with creation of Interstate 40, but the bridge saw plenty of local traffic. In 1983, the state replaced both bridges with a new structure that was composed of two separate bridge deck units, he said.

According to the city, a National Register of Historic Places application was submitted for the bridge in February 2022. But because the current structure was built in 1983, it did not meet the 50-year criterion needed, and “though significant,” it was not considered eligible for national nomination.

The Central Avenue Bridge crossing site is the 24th designated city landmark. A site or structure can be considered for city landmark designation if it is of particular historical, architectural, cultural or archaeological significance, according to the city.