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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
US route endpoint in
1927-present
Ever since US 380 was commissioned in 1931, its west end has been in San Antonio. For a few years prior to that, it was US 566 that had its west terminus there:
c. 1931, NM DoT
c. 1934, NM DoT
This interactive image looks northbound on today's NM hwy. 1. Originally this was US 85, which continued straight ahead (via the road on the left). Angling to the right is the original west beginning of US 566:
Ahead that road curves to the east via 6th Street, and US 566 crossed the Rio Grande via a bridge that has been gone since around 1940. That original highway connected with the current US 380 about 2.5 miles to the east. In 1931, the US 380 designation replaced US 566, so the intersection shown above was also US 380's original west beginning.
Between 1938-1945 a temporary bridge was built to the north (at the same location as the current US 380 bridge; the permanent bridge was completed in 1950). So then drivers on US 85 had to continue a half-mile straight ahead to reach the new junction with US 380:
Sanderson, Mar. 2010
Sanderson, Mar. 2016
Originally US 85 continued straight ahead, and to the right was the west beginning of US 380. Later US 85 traffic was directed to the left (and then north again along today's I-25 corridor), but US 380 still began to the right.
These next shots were looking west at the same intersection. This is a former west end of US 380:
Sanderson, Mar. 2010
Sanderson, Mar. 2016
Stober, May 2021
Later (perhaps in the 1960s) I-25 was completed, and at some point US 85 was removed from its original alignment through San Antonio. At that time US 380 was extended straight ahead about a mile to I-25; the last westbound marker is not far ahead.
(In these photos, the lower, yellowish hills in the distance are the Chupadera Mountains; while the higher, bluish ones beyond that are the Magdalena Mountains):
Sanderson, Mar. 2010
Stober, May 2021
In the middleground above, the interchange that marks the west end of US 380 is visible. In the gore separating northbound traffic from southbound, a large sign has been posted:
Allen, 2000
Sanderson, Mar. 2010
Stober, May 2021
Heading southbound on I-25, interchange 139 marks the current west beginning of US 380:
Sanderson, Mar. 2010
After exiting there, this photo shows what was formerly the first US 380 sign heading eastbound, posted immediately after exiting the freeway. It was lying on the ground and needed a little help to stand up:
Allen, 2000
From what I have observed, that is not unusual in New Mexico: not much attention given to road signs. That sign was never replaced; by 2004 the first confirming marker was about a half-mile ahead, at the junction with NM 1 in San Antonio...
Roberts, May 2004
...and by 2010 (and at least as late as 2016), there was no confirming marker until after the junction with NM 1:
Sanderson, Mar. 2016
Sanderson, Mar. 2010
The green sign in the distance gives mileage to Carrizozo (64) and Roswell (153). Straight ahead was the west beginning of US 380 from roughly 1940-1965. The original terminus (for both US 380 and US 566) was about a half-mile to the right (as described at the beginning of this article).
Research and/or image credits: James Allen; Mike Roberson; Mark Roberts; Dale Sanderson; Dan Stober
Page originally created 2000;last updated Feb. 27, 2026.
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