US 85 in Texas

[Max Rockatansky]

The situation with US 85 in Texas caught my interest while I was visiting El Paso.  The situation where a US Route exists on logs in New Mexico but is not signed is not unique to US 85.  I found a similar situation to exist with US 82 between Las Cruces-Alamogordo:

"The present routing of US Route 85 within Texas comprises only 21 miles of the overall 1,479 miles of the highway.  Of those 21 miles in Texas only approximately 5.6 miles of US Route 85 are signed as a standalone highway.  US Route 85 was extended from Las Cruces, New Mexico to downtown El Paso during 1946 where it multiplexed US Route 80 to a terminus located at the intersection of Mesa Street and Texas Street.  US Route 85 was shifted to a new terminus located at the Mexican border via the one-way couplets on Stanton Street and El Paso Street during 1974.   Since 1990 US Route 85 has had a signage gap from the Texas/New Mexico state line 560 miles north to Fountain, Colorado.  This signage gap exists due to the state of New Mexico removing what they determined to be superfluous US Route signage without approval from the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials."

https://www.gribblenation.org/2023/10/us-route-85-in-texas.html

[The Ghostbuster]

They could have decommissioned US 85 south of Interstate 25's Exit 184 in Castle Rock, Colorado. However, US 85 remains intact to this day, abet as an unsigned route through New Mexico and much of Colorado. In a parallel situation to US 85, US 87 also has a long co-currency with Interstate 25 and Interstate 90 between Raton, New Mexico and Billings, Montana. They could have either truncated US 87's northern terminus to Raton, or they could have split US 87 into two legs: have the southern leg exist between Port Lavaca, Texas and Raton, New Mexico, and the northern leg exist between Billings, Montana and Harve, Montana. However, like US 85, US 87 still exists in its entirety, and I highly doubt either US Highway will ever be officially truncated.

[Bobby5280]

One problem is there are pretty significant 3-digit child routes of US-85 and US-87. US-285 is signed thru the middle of Colorado, from the North to South borders of New Mexico and then down close to the Big Bend area where it ends at US-90. US-385 is also a pretty long route. US-287 is no slouch either.

[abqtraveler]

One problem is there are pretty significant 3-digit child routes of US-85 and US-87. US-285 is signed thru the middle of Colorado, from the North to South borders of New Mexico and then down close to the Big Bend area where it ends at US-90. US-385 is also a pretty long route. US-287 is no slouch either.

Which gives rise to the possibility of US-85 taking over the US-285 alignment from Santa Fe, NM to Denver, CO, and there's plenty of historical precedence for something like this to happen. The most recent example I can think of was when US-27 was truncated from Grayling, Michigan to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Meanwhile, US-127 was extended to take over the former US-27 alignment from Lansing to Grayling.   

[Max Rockatansky]

Considering that US 62 touches the same port of entry as US 85 I'm not sure what value the latter holds.  Even still to truncate US 85 properly would require the cooperation of three states submitting AASHTO applications.  What I'm curious about was if this was done intentionally to avoid working with other states or was it just negligence of the AASHTO process by NMDOT?  What I don't get is why New Mexico had to multiplex US 85 onto I-25 to begin with?  It isn't as though the state relinquished much of the original surface routing.  In theory NMDOT could just consolidate several surface highways into US 85 and not change the control cities to avoid another AASHTO application. 

[abqtraveler]

What I don't get is why New Mexico had to multiplex US 85 onto I-25 to begin with?  It isn't as though the state relinquished much of the original surface routing.  In theory NMDOT could just consolidate several surface highways into US 85 and not change the control cities to avoid another AASHTO application.

Especially since the portions of former US-85 that remain intact are state routes or I-25 business loops, it would make sense to keep the old road signed as US-85 in places where it remains, and multiplex US-85 with I-25 in places where I-25 was build directly over the old road.

[DJStephens]

What I don't get is why New Mexico had to multiplex US 85 onto I-25 to begin with?  It isn't as though the state relinquished much of the original surface routing.  In theory NMDOT could just consolidate several surface highways into US 85 and not change the control cities to avoid another AASHTO application.

Especially since the portions of former US-85 that remain intact are state routes or I-25 business loops, it would make sense to keep the old road signed as US-85 in places where it remains, and multiplex US-85 with I-25 in places where I-25 was build directly over the old road.

Am guessing it had largely to do with shedding maintenance resposibilities for the "older" US 85.  The original roadbed, exists in it's entirety south of Hot Springs (truth or consequences).  Yes believe the name of the town should revert to it's original.   Narrow, no shoulders, crumbling edges, etc.  They have replaced some of the worst arroyo culvert crossings in the this section finally.  However, no shoulders or sidewalks were provided.  At least they didn't shift them like too many new bridges in this state have been, when they are replaced.   Leading to wonkiness and a general sense of cheapness.   

[US 89]

What I don't get is why New Mexico had to multiplex US 85 onto I-25 to begin with?  It isn't as though the state relinquished much of the original surface routing.  In theory NMDOT could just consolidate several surface highways into US 85 and not change the control cities to avoid another AASHTO application.

Especially since the portions of former US-85 that remain intact are state routes or I-25 business loops, it would make sense to keep the old road signed as US-85 in places where it remains, and multiplex US-85 with I-25 in places where I-25 was build directly over the old road.

For better or worse that just wasn't how things were generally done in most of the west. For the most part, US highways were outright moved onto their replacing interstates even when the old road stayed state-maintained. US 30 in Idaho and Wyoming, for example, stays on I-84/15/80 through all sorts of business loops and only leaves the interstates when the interstate substantially departs from the original 30 route. US 89 has a substantial overlap with I-70 even though almost all of the old route is still part of various state routes.

There of course are a few exceptions to that general rule, but they tend to be in larger cities where the US highways weren't moved to freeways of their own (and managed to avoid outright decommissioning). Things like US 40 and US 287 in Denver, US 89 in Salt Lake City, US 30 in Cheyenne, US 20/26 in Boise...