page_title: New Mexico State Road 80
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: New Mexico State Road 80 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: New Mexico State Road 80
context_page_description: State Road 80 is 32.416-mile-long north–south state road in southwestern New Mexico, between the Arizona state line near Rodeo and Interstate 10 at Road Forks. Lying entirely within Hidalgo County, New Mexico, it is the only section of the old U.S. Route 80 in New Mexico which still retains its number. The route was re-designated NM 80 in 1989. This is the reason why NM 80 has an even number designation despite the highway being north/south. From the south, AZ 80 acts as a continuation of NM 80 into Arizona.
context_section_description: In 1903, New Mexico Territorial Road 4 (NM 4) was designated from the Arizona border near Rodeo through Lordsburg and Deming to NM 1 in Las Cruces. Upon creation of New Mexico's first state highway system in 1912, NM 4 was re-designated as New Mexico State Road 4. In Lordsburg, NM 4 passed the western terminus of NM 42, which ran northeast to NM 11 in Silver City. In 1917 the Dixie Overland Highway auto trail was designated between  San Diego, California and Savannah, Georgia over part of NM 4. The Dixie Overland Highway was joined by the Bankhead Highway in 1920 and the Old Spanish Trail in 1923. In 1923, NM 4 was truncated to Lordsburg, and NM 42 extended over its former route to Arizona. 
  On November 11, 1926, the U.S. Numbered Highway System was established in a joint effort by the United States Department of Agriculture and the American Association of State Highway Officials. NM 42 became part of U.S. Route 80 from Arizona to Lordsburg and U.S. Route 180 from Lordsburg to Silver City. Nationally, US 80 ran from San Diego to Savannah, replacing the earlier auto trails designated along NM 4 and NM 42. US 180 ran from Florence Junction, Arizona to the new U.S. Route 85 northeast of Silver City via Lordsburg. The arrival of the U.S. Highways in New Mexico caused the New Mexico State Highway Department to institute a statewide remembering in 1927 to better include the new routes. As such, NM 42 and the remainder of NM 4 were entirely removed from the state highway system in favor of US 80 and US 180. The route between Arizona and Lordsburg would continue to hold the US 80 designation for the next 63 years. Following the creation of the Interstate Highway System in 1956, Interstate 10 slowly replaced US 80. Starting in 1964, US 80 was truncated eastward in increments from San Diego. in 1989, Arizona and New Mexico requested AASHTO to remove US 80 west of Anthony, New Mexico. The request was approved. The remaining section of US 80 from Benson, Arizona to Roadforks became Arizona State Route 80 and New Mexico State Road 80. The remainder of US 80 was removed from New Mexico in 1991.
caption: NM 80 southbound
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