Interstate 25 (I-25) in the US state of

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

follows the north–south corridor through

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

and Santa Fe. It replaced U.S. Route 85 (US 85), which is no longer signed, but still exists in route logs sharing most of the I-25 alignment. I-25 starts in New Mexico at an interchange with

I-10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the originall ...

in Las Cruces and extends roughly before reaching Colorado. I-25 passes through principally rural land through central New Mexico and passes through or near the cities of Las Cruces,

Truth or Consequences ''Truth or Consequences'' is an American game show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940–57) and later on television by Edwards (1950–54), Jack Bailey (1954–56), Bob Barker (1956–75), Steve Dunne (1957–58), Bob Hi ...

, Socorro, Belen,

, Santa Fe,

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, and Raton.

Route description

I-25 begins at

's exit 144 in Las Cruces (elevation ), just south of the

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and was the original land-g ...

(NMSU) campus. I-25 is concurrent with US 85 at this point, and carries US 85 concurrently for the remainder of its run in New Mexico, save for a through

where unsigned US 85 follows Interstate 25 Business (I-25 Bus., Business Loop 15) through the town. Immediately, the Interstate passes east of the NMSU campus, and the next three exits provide access to the city. The first exit is University Avenue, which provides access to NMSU. The final exit in Las Cruces is US 70. Upon exiting the city, the speed limit increases by to . Before I-25 reaches

and just south of Elephant Butte Reservoir State Park, it crosses over to the west side of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

. From Las Cruces to Santa Fe I-25 follows the route of

El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (), also known as the Silver Route, was a Spanish road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo (''Ohkay Owingeh''), New Mexico (in the modern U.S.), that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was the northernmost of ...

. South of Albuquerque near Socorro, it passes through the

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge A bosque ( ) is a type of gallery forest habitat found along the riparian flood plains of streams, river banks, and lakes. It derives its name from the Spanish word for "forest", pronounced . Setting In the predominantly arid or semiarid S ...

. As I-25 nears Albuquerque, it has interchanges with roads such as US 380 and a concurrency with US 60. State Road 6 (NM 6), the original US 66, meets up with I-25 in

Los Lunas Los Lunas is a village in Valencia County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village has a population of 17,242. It is the county seat of Valencia County. Los Lunas is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...

. Just to the south of Albuquerque, I-25 enters

Isleta Pueblo Pueblo of Isleta ( , ; ) is an unincorporated community and Tanoan pueblo in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States, originally established in the . The Southern Tiwa name of the pueblo is (Shee-eh-whíb-bak) meaning "a knife lai ...

where it crosses back to the east side of the Rio Grande. The speed limit on I-25 in Albuquerque is , except for one section between Gibson Boulevard and Central Avenue. Through Albuquerque, I-25 is named the Pan American Freeway and there are frequent exits to city streets. A major interchange with

I-40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway in the southeastern and southwestern portions of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and ...

(which is styled as the Coronado Freeway in the city) is named the

Big I The Big I is a freeway interchange where Interstate 25 and Interstate 40 intersect northeast of downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. Description The Big I is a complex stack interchange located in central Albuquerque, New Mexico. Th ...

. It was given an honorable mention by the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

and the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

for excellence in urban highway design in 2002. Santa Fe Mountains with snow at sunset from I-25

Leaving Albuquerque, the speed limit resumes as the freeway passes through

Sandia Pueblo Sandia Pueblo (; Tiwa: Tuf Shur Tia) is a federally recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people inhabiting a reservation of the same name in the eastern Rio Grande Rift of central New Mexico. It is one of 19 of New Mexico's Native Ameri ...

. After

Bernalillo Bernalillo () is a town in and the county seat of Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 8,977 at the 2020 census. Bernalillo is part of the Albuquerque metropolitan area. History Wine Festival In the 1620s, the wine g ...

, I-25 passes through four more

Indian Reservation An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...

s (from south to north: the Pueblos of Santa Ana, San Felipe, Kewa, and

Cochiti Cochiti (; Eastern Keresan: Kotyit ʰocʰi̥tʰ Western Keresan K’úutìim’é ʼúːtʰìːm̰é Navajo: ''Tǫ́ʼgaaʼ'' /tʰṍʔkɑ̀ːʔ/) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States. A historic pu ...

). I-25 turns to the northeast and away from the Rio Grande, alongside which it has run from its southern terminus, as it heads toward Santa Fe. It climbs out of the Rio Grande Valley at a steep hill called La Bajada southwest of Santa Fe. Continuing 'northbound' at Santa Fe, I-25 heads southeast for approximately , traveling through the

Santa Fe National Forest The Santa Fe National Forest is a protected national forest in northern New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. It was established in 1915 and covers . Elevations range from 5,300 feet (1600 m) to 13,103 feet (4000 m) at the su ...

and crossing

Glorieta Pass Glorieta Pass (elevation 7500 ft.) is a mountain pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. The pass is at a strategic location near the southern end of the Sangre de Cristos in east central Santa Fe County southeast of ...

(). It turns north again at Blanchard toward

. The highway maintains a north and northeast orientation as it leaves New Mexico traversing

Raton Pass Ratón Pass is a 7,834 ft (2,388 m) elevation mountain pass on the Colorado–New Mexico border in the western United States. It is located on the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Trinidad, Colorado and Raton, N ...

() and enters Colorado. The speed limit through

is . From Santa Fe to Raton Pass, I-25 approximates part of the route of the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the ...

. I-25 is long in New Mexico.

Exit list

Related routes

I-25 in New Mexico currently has no auxiliary Interstates but it has six active business routes. The active business routes are located in

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

–

, Socorro, Belen,

Springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag. ** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...

, and Raton. There was one other business route that was located in Santa Fe but was decommissioned.

References

External links