New Mexico State Road 599

"NM 599" redirects here. For the New Mexico Rail Runner Express train station, see Santa Fe County/NM 599 (Rail Runner station).

State Road 599
Santa Fe Relief Route
Route information
Maintained by NMDOT
Length:	14.019 mi[1] (22.561 km)
Major junctions
South end:	NM 14 near Santa Fe
	CR  56 in Santa Fe I-25 in Santa Fe
North end:	US 84 / US 285 in Santa Fe
Highway system
State Roads in New Mexico SR • Minor SR • US ← NM 598 NM 601 →

New Mexico Route 599 is a state highway located entirely within Santa Fe County in New Mexico, United States of America. It is named the Veterans Memorial Highway. It is also named the Santa Fe Relief Route (both names are used on road signs), which alludes to the highway's original purpose of bypassing the urbanized areas of Santa Fe and thereby relieving it from shipments of hazardous waste. It passes through less densely developed terrain in and around the northwestern boundary of the municipality. This expressway's total length is approximately 14 miles (23 km). The speed limits on it range from 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour) to 65 miles per hour (105 kilometers per hour).

Route description

At its southern end, NM-599 begins at the traffic light controlled intersection of itself, Cerrillos Road (NM-14), and Avenida del Sur about two miles south of the municipal boundaries of Santa Fe. The speed limit is 45 miles per hour (mph) as the expressway crosses under and connects mostly at-grade with Interstate 25's (I-25) frontage roads and exit ramps, providing intermediate access from the freeway to a horse racetrack, businesses and homes on the frontage road. After a traffic light on the route at I-25's western frontage road, the speed limit increases from 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) for approximately two miles, as the expressway travels north up and over two hills, passing to the west of some of the city's newer neighborhoods and to the east of the Santa Fe Municipal Airport, before slowing again to 45 mph as it approaches the remaining traffic light controlled intersection on the route at Airport Road (former NM-284, now Santa Fe County Road 56). As the highway leaves the industrial and residential area near the intersection with Airport Road, the speed limit increases to 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) and it crosses the Santa Fe River. After the river the relief route's western frontage road begins.

The relief route then turns to the northeast and begins a long moderate climb through rolling terrain with grasses and juniper shrubs punctuated by mostly light residential development, as the road follows at a distance the city's northwestern boundary, until it reaches a diamond interchange with Camino la Tierra. The western frontage road continuously follows the expressway on this section of the route and it bulbs out (for the purpose of the construction of a future interchange) at two at-grade intersections with local highways controlled by stop signs. The western frontage road ends at Camino la Tierra. There are two more at-grade intersections, one of which is an unused stub, on the route as the expressway continues to the northeast and enters the city of Santa Fe's northern incorporated area, which is projected to be developed, but is largely open space. There is another diamond interchange at the route's highest point, which at 7,265 feet (2,214 m) is almost 1000 ft higher than the route's junction with I-25 approximately twelve miles to the southwest. As the expressway crosses under Ridgetop Road the speed limit decreases to 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) and the highway descends promptly into an arroyo. Less than a mile later NM-599 ends at a trumpet interchange with the U.S Route 84/285 freeway in Santa Fe.

Design

In contrast to several other state highways in northern New Mexico, NM-599 is paved for its entire length. Functionally, it is an expressway by being a divided highway with no driveway access. Instead, local access is provided by linked frontage roads or by way of other connecting roads. There are two diamond interchanges, one partial cloverleaf interchange at the junction with I-25 (which was rebuilt as a diamond interchange in 2009 as part of the construction of a train station in the freeway's median^[2]) and several local highways that cross it at intervals, controlled by stop signs (none on NM-599 itself) or traffic lights near the southern end. Upgrades to the expressway are a consideration being undertaken by the New Mexico Department of Transportation's NM 599 Corridor Study.^[3]

History

The Santa Fe Relief Route is significant as part of the road network traversed by vehicles transporting radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) north of Santa Fe to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) in southern New Mexico near Carlsbad. Much of the funding for construction of the Route was supplied by the United States Department of Energy so that WIPP-bound waste from LANL would not have to pass through the center of Santa Fe. However, most of the traffic on the road is general public use and has nothing to do with WIPP waste, which is moved only at infrequent intervals in special convoys. Construction of the Route took place over a period of several years in the 1990s.

Major intersections

The entire route is in Santa Fe County.

Location	Mile[4]	Destinations	Notes
	0.000	NM 14	Southern terminus
Santa Fe	0.5	I-25 (US 85) – Albuquerque, Las Vegas	Interchange
	3.6	CR 56 (Airport Road)	Former NM 284
	10.2	Camino La Tierra / Pso Nopal	Interchange
	13.1	North Ridge Top Road / Camino Francisca	Interchange
	14.019	US 84 / US 285 – Española, Santa Fe	Interchange, northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

1. ^ New Mexico Department of Transportation. "NMDOT Highway Log". http://www.nmshtd.state.nm.us/upload/images/CHDB/State%20Routes.pdf. Retrieved April 19, 2008. 
2. ^ Staff (March 21, 2009). "Railrunner work to close 599 exit". Santa Fe New Mexican. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Local-news-in-brief--3-21-09. Retrieved 2009-04-05. 
3. ^ "NM 599 Corridor Study project page". New Mexico Department of Transportation. http://www.nmshtd.state.nm.us/main.asp?secid=15527. Retrieved 2009-04-05. 
4. ^ Google, Inc. Google Maps – NM 599 (Map). Cartography by Google, Inc. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=NM-599+N%2FVeteran%27s+Memorial+Hwy&daddr=35.598247,-106.069767+to:35.7157957,-105.9458502+to:NM-599+N&hl=en&geocode=FRgIHwId0L-t-Q%3BFacvHwId-YCt-SlbRymsrl4YhzGCHtPwoD68GQ%3BFdP6IAIdBmWv-SlHl9hC508YhzHXNfNcOf0EOA%3BFZryIAIdLnSv-Q&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=3&sz=17&via=1,2&sll=35.712702,-105.942557&sspn=0.005453,0.007371&ie=UTF8&ll=35.602742,-106.086044&spn=0.087373,0.117931&z=13. Retrieved December 30, 2010. 

External links

• N.M. Highways Page
• New Mexico Department of Transportation - Consolidated Highway Database Section (route log)
• WIPP route description