A 14.02 mile long highway, NM 599 provides a controlled access bypass around the city of Santa Fe. Officially named the Veterans' Memorial Highway, and also signed as the Santa Fe Relief Route, NM 599 was constructed to shift trucks away from the capital city. NM 599 forms part of a corridor with U.S. 85/285 and I-25 for nuclear waste shipment between Los Alamos and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad.1
The Santa Fe city government approved the alignment of NM 599 in the mid 1980s. The U.S. Department of Energy funded nearly half of the $92 million in costs to build the expressway. The first WIPP nuclear waste shipment along the bypass took place in March 1999.2
NM 599 was dedicated as the Veterans' Memorial Highway at a ribbon cutting ceremony on November 1, 2000. NM 599 previously opened to traffic with two lanes in 1998. Speed limits increased from 40 to 55 miles per hour with completion of the four lane highway.2
Subsequent upgrades along NM 599 included the addition of a dumbbell interchange (Exit 6) with Meadows Road that replaced the accident prone intersection with County Road 62 (Caja del Oro Grant Road). The intersection with CR 62 closed in April 2012 and the $6.5 million project for the exchange at Meadows Road ran through July 2013.3 A ribbon cutting ceremony celebrated the project's completion on July 30, 2013.4
A 2,000 foot extension of Jaguar Drive west from the 1,400-acre Tierra Contenta master planned community to a new diamond interchange with NM 599 opened to traffic in late November 2018.5 Completion of the privately funded $7 million exchange precedes planned commercial developments including the 360 acre Santa Fe Commercial Center and 60 acre Village Plaza at Tierra Contenta.6
A $561,000 project modifies the at-grade intersection with Via Veteranos on the north side of Santa Fe. Anticipated for completion in mid-June 2019, the safety improvement removes left turns from Via Veteranos to NM 599 south. The site of fatalities in 2015 and 2017, the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) previously installed a set of flashers at the intersection in 2011.7
- "Bypass Honors Veterans." Albuquerque Journal (NM), November 2, 2000.
- "An end to road work." Santa Fe New Mexican, The (NM), November 2, 2000.
- "Construction projects on I-25, N.M. 599 set to start." Santa Fe New Mexican, The (NM), April 3, 2012.
- "Commemorating the Overpass." Albuquerque Journal (NM), July 31, 2013.
- "Jaguar, Beckner intersections all set to open." Santa Fe New Mexican, The (NM), November 5, 2017.
- "New exit opens city’s south side - NM 599 interchange gives easy access to Tierra Contenta." Albuquerque Journal (NM), January 5, 2018.
- "Changes ahead to make deadly N.M. 599 intersection safer." Santa Fe New Mexican, The (NM), March 27, 2019.
Page Updated 04-09-2019.