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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
US route endpoint in
1956-present
The west end of US 56 has been in Springer ever since the route was originally commissioned in 1956. It has always ended at its junction with US 85 (now historic US 85), even after I-25 was completed through this area in about 1971:
c. 1957, NMDoT
The US 412 designation was extended to Springer in 1994; it overlaps with US 56 west of Boise City OK for 135 miles, and the two routes share a common terminus.
Highway signage in New Mexico is often inaccurate, underinformative, haphazard, and/or just plain wrong. We will start with this one from northbound I-25:
Sanderson, Jun. 2006
Despite what that sign indicated, travelers did not have to exit there in order to continue on I-25. That should have been a green shield, because it was a reference to Business Loop I-25. That was fixed sometime after 2009... sort of. Now it is a Business Loop shield, but it says "South" instead of "North":
Google Street View, Jun. 2019
If one exits there, they would actually be traveling north on the Business Loop, not south. It is possible NMDoT meant "south" in the sense that it is Springer's south interchange. (I suggest that because, similarly, the southbound sign for Exit 414 says "North", even though it should be "South".)
Regardless, those were the only posted references to Bus. I-25; signage at the exit itself is shown here:
Sanderson, Feb. 2002
Sanderson, Mar. 2013
Springer has two interchanges: north and south. Both take drivers to what was formerly US 85 through town (Railroad Avenue and Maxwell Avenue), which now forms a business loop with the interstate. Pretty standard... except US 85 is no longer signed in New Mexico. And the Springer business loop is not signed as anything! All four routes referenced above terminate at old US 85; none of them have direct access to I-25. If NMDoT were more conventional, the signs above would read "Business 25 to US 56-412, NM 21, and NM 468". They did replace I-25 signage sometime after 2009, and they did change the info on that particular exit panel, but not in a way that one might have expected: for some reason, references to US 412 have been removed from I-25 (that is true of southbound signage as well). The rationale is unclear (but it seems that, just because NM makes a change to the info on their signage, it does not necessarily mean there was any specific intention behind it).
For several years, when one reached the bottom of that northbound ramp, they were not even told which way Springer was, much less how to get to those four highways. But that particular oversight was corrected sometime after 2015:
Morrison, Apr. 2017
Old US 85/unsigned Business 25 is to the right, and then it veers north through town. In about a half-mile, drivers come to the intersection shown below:
Sanderson, Jun. 2006
Sanderson, Aug. 2015
Those were looking north on Maxwell. To the left on 4th Street is the east beginning of NM 21, which passes under I-25 but has no interchange. To the right is the west beginning of both US 56 and US 412. If one takes that right turn, they will see the first eastbound US 56-412 marker, shown here:
Sanderson, Jun. 2006
Sanderson, Aug. 2015
Those were heading east on 4th, and the westernmost segment of US 56-412 is visible.
A similar shield was used for the last westbound marker for the two US routes. Not so bad... except for the fact that it's 20 miles east of Springer:
Sanderson, Apr. 2021
That was at the junction with NM 39. Note the green sign in the background indicates mileage to the route's terminus in Springer, but also to the town of Cimarron (which is odd: if points beyond the terminus are going to be referenced, it would make sense to choose more commons destinations, like Raton or Las Vegas, rather than Cimarron; but a possible explanation is below). This shot shows the end of US 56-412:
Sanderson, Feb. 2002 (unchanged as of Jun. 2006)
That was west on 4th at Maxwell. No "End" sign... however, there is a sign here for NM 58... which is curious, since that designation does not begin until about seven miles north of this point, off I-25. That sign has possibly been replaced in-kind since the time before US 56 was commissioned, when the road between Springer and Clayton was NM 58. That designation then went north here with US 85 for seven miles, and then split off again, heading west to... yep, Cimarron.
In the distance NM 21's underpass at I-25 is visible. Note also the first westbound NM 21 sign next to a big green sign, shown close-up here:
Sanderson, Jun. 2006 (unchanged since at least Feb. 2002)
That green sign is posted about a block too late, but that is not out of the ordinary in New Mexico. Last but not least, we will travel southbound. Here is the signage from I-25:
Sanderson, Jun. 2006
Note that somebody decided to use a slash on that shield. Signage in NM is... well, "freeform", to put it nicely. No direction is provided on the offramp, but assuming a traveler guesses correctly and crosses the overpass, they will eventually wind up on southbound Maxwell approaching 4th:
Sanderson, Jun. 2006
Signage ahead tells drivers which way to go for NM 21, but there is no direction for US 56-412, which begins to the left.
Research and/or image credits: Jeff Morrison; Dale Sanderson
Page originally created 2002;last updated Aug. 21, 2025.
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