he didn't even spare the time to legally procure privately owned lands the new route would pass through, yet they were taken over anyway. At the end of his term the new road wasn't quite finished, but due to inclement weather word couldn't be sent to road crews to stop construction, and by the time word got through the road had been completed [Though widely reported, this story is unconfirmed... and likely untrue. States elect major government officials in even-numbered years, and New Mexico records do not list a new governor taking office in 1937. ] . The new route went due east from Santa Rosa through Moriarty and on to Albuquerque, then bypassed Los Lunas and went on to Grants. The bypass shaved more than 100 miles off the trip and saved travellers at least 4 hours, it also strategically cut off Santa Fe businesses (and politicians) from the primary east-west artery in the state.

Another quirky result of the bypass is that in Albuquerque you can stand on the corner of Route 66 and Route 66. The old and new alignments intersect at Fourth Street (old alignment) and Central Avenue (new alignment).

Approximately 260 miles of drivable Route