Endpoints of
US Route 82

US 82 replaced what had been AR hwy. 2, which this inset map showed coming into town on 9th Street.  At Broad Street, it was joined by US 67.  These routes angled through the downtown grid via 7th Street; US 82 could have ended where it junctioned US 71, which appears to have been routed along Laurel Street at the time:

This photo was looking east on University Boulevard.  Originally US 11 followed the route of what is now AL hwy. 215: ahead was northbound, and southbound was to the right on Greensboro Avenue.  To the left on Greensboro was probably the east beginning of US 82 (Greensboro aligns with a now-dismantled bridge that once connected with Bridge Av in Northport):

All highways junctioned at the center of town (that is, the intersection of Broadway and what was then Avenue "H", but has now been renamed to Buddy Holly Avenue).  This interactive image was taken looking west on Broadway:

That was once westbound US 84 (which turned right on "H") and US 62 (which continued ahead).  Also ahead was the west beginning of US 82 (the I-27 overpass is visible in the distance).  At some point (probably around 1947), the four highways began to be rerouted away from Broadway and Av "H":

That shows US 82 coming in with US 62.  It is unclear exactly how far US 82 was signed, but it could have ended at its junction with US 87:

Except for the later addition of I-27, that is pretty much how the highways are still arranged.  US 84 uses Avenue "Q" (9 blocks west of "H"), and US 87 uses Avenue "A" (7 blocks east of "H").  US 62 uses 19th Street (a half-mile south of Broadway).  By the time of the map above, US 82 was using 4th Street (a half-mile north of Broadway), so the original junction was bypassed in all four directions.  US 82 went all the way across town, but then ended at its junction where it rejoined US 62 on the west side (near the Texas Tech University campus).  This image was taken still further west on 19th:

That is westbound US 62, which continues by angling to the left on the relatively-new Marsha Sharp Freeway.  Today that direction is also westbound US 82, but for a time, the west beginning of US 82 was to the right on the freeway... however, back then, there was no freeway here -- it was called the Brownfield Highway, and this was an at-grade intersection.  This shot is looking northeast on the Sharp Fwy:

This next photo was taken looking east on Albany Avenue.  For a few years, US 82 came to that point and ended there at Plant Avenue (at the time, those US 1 and US 23 markers would have been correct, but since 1994 Plant has actually carried Business US 1-23).

At any rate, the old signs along White Sands have never been corrected, and there is no "Business" signage anywhere in the city... except on the green street signs at this particular intersection: here, the road straight ahead is not referred to as "White Sands Blvd", but rather as "Business Route", while the bypass is referred to as "Relief Route".  Before the bypass, there was a simple sign marking the beginning of US 82:

​It indicated that US 82 was only to the left, not straight ahead.  However, just beyond that intersection, this sign was posted on southbound White Sands:

The first one was just past the intersection with 1st Street, while the next one was just after 10th Street (and there is yet one more after the Indian Wells Road intersection).  These are clues that White Sands might have been turned back to the city: none of the obsolete signs have been fixed.  But on the other hand, that point could be irrelevant, because NMDOT does not seem to be conscientious about signage anywhere in the state.  Regardless, US 82 does not actually begin until the junction near La Luz, a couple miles ahead: