Albuquerque designates Central Avenue Bridge as a historic landmark

The Albuquerque City Council last week voted to designate the Central Avenue Bridge that carries Route 66 as a City Landmark.

A news release from the city has the bridge’s historical details:

Before 1937, the original Route 66 passed through Albuquerque in a north-to-south direction and was located on 4th Street. The Central Avenue Bridge was constructed in 1930 to provide highway access over the Rio Grande and allow westward expansion of the city.

With the completion of the Rio Puerco Bridge in 1933, and the Central Avenue Underpass in 1937, the US Bureau of Public Roads adopted the Santa Rosa-Laguna Shortcut as the new west-to-east alignment for Route 66, the direction we’ve come to know in more recent history.

“The Central Avenue Bridge crossing site has been important for hundreds of years,” said Planning Department Director Alan Varela. “This designation will help preserve and protect it indefinitely into the future. We are very happy to see that its significance has been recognized officially.”

The current span was built in 1983, though the bridge has been reconstructed several times over the past near-century.

The bridge is the 24th designated City Landmark. The designation also provides such sites more city protection from its Landmarks Commission.

(Hat tip to KQRE-TV; excerpted Google Street View image of Central Avenue Bridge in Albuquerque)