However, until 1937, it took a longer route via Los Lunas, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, now roughly New Mexico State Road 6 (NM 6), I-25, and US 84.

[4][5][6] New Mexico had long been controlled politically by the Santa Fe Ring, a group of businesspeople and officials with close ties to the Republican Party.

[citation needed] From the Arizona state line to the Grants area the landscape is mountainous, and US 66 meanders around I-40.

At San Jon, the original alignment (now gravel) continues to the Texas state line at the historic ghost town of Glenrio.

[15] Albuquerque is also home to the 1927 Art Deco themed KiMo Theater[16] and the first modern suburban shopping mall in New Mexico, Nob Hill.

[17] Fort Wingate, an abandoned military installation east of Gallup, traces its history to attempts in the 19th century to forcibly displace Navajo to native reservations.

[18] The Barelas-South Fourth Street Historic District is a collection of commercial buildings from various eras in a formerly Hispanic residential neighborhood in Albuquerque.

[25] Roadside merchants on Route 66 often based their stores on the design of the early trading posts which originally served the native community.

The De Anza Motor Lodge and the surrounding Nob Hill neighborhood served as a trading post for the Zuni Pueblo in Albuquerque.

Originally a native trading post, its proprietors established a modern chain of highway service centers.

[27] Albuquerque's 1939 Maisel's Indian Trading Post, which once employed hundreds of native craftspeople, was reopened in the 1980s and remains in operation today.

[28] Various towns and cities quickly established roadside motel strips to accommodate a burgeoning traffic from Route 66 travelers.

The Motel Safari was built in 1959 by Chester Dohrer and features a mid-century modern retro design with "Doo Wop" or "Googie" styled architecture.

Boomerangs, holes in cinder blocks, counter stacked bricks protruding from the façade and whimsical metal cylinders that light up at night, along with its famous camel atop the neon sign, paying tribute to the U.S. Camel Corps that once came through the area in the 1800s on a surveying expedition for a future national road system.

In hopes to keep this era alive, some hotels including De Anza Motor Lodge and El Vado Motel have been rejuvenated along the historic route 66 in Albuquerque.

Listed road segments include: Glenrio to San Jon; San Jon to Tucumcari; Palomas to Montoya; Montoya to Cuervo; Cuervo to NM 156; Albuquerque to Rio Puerco; Laguna to McCartys; McCartys to Grants; Milan to Continental Divide; Iyanbito to Rehobeth; and Manuelito to the Arizona border.

Before entering the town of Tijeras, there is a former location of a "musical road" feature where rumble strips were arranged to play America the Beautiful for eastbound travelers.

Shortly thereafter, the highway enters Torrance County and the city of Moriarty, where it ends at an intersection with I-40 Business (I-40 Bus.).