City to earmark $432K for sign redevelopment along Route 66

Aug. 9—City officials announced a plan Monday to revitalize historic signs along Route 66, a move that comes as the city preps for the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road in 2026.

Through the Revamp Route 66: Sign Improvement Grant Program, the city plans to dish out $432,000 to businesses for sign redevelopment. Businesses — which have to be located in qualified Metropolitan Redevelopment Areas along Central Avenue — have until Oct. 15 to apply for funding, which can go toward design services, materials, permitting fees, construction and installation.

"So many of these signs are more than advertisements," said City Councilor Renée Grout, recalling the commute she made from the University of New Mexico in the 1980s. "These signs showed me the way home. Now these signs need our help."

Plans for a road connecting Chicago to Los Angeles began in 1926 and that road, now known as Route 66, served as a lifeline for rural and isolated communities who benefited economically from the emerging popularity of the All-American road trip, according to an article by the Federal Highway Administration. The route was also a vital path for other travelers, namely truckers and those heading west for work during the Great Depression.

For many, road signs are remaining symbols of the road's former glory.

City Councilor Klarissa Peña said Albuquerque has the longest urban stretch of Route 66, which is something the city has failed to capitalize on in recent years. But through new funding for businesses, the city can "bolster energy, economic impact, activation, and tourism along this road of historical significance."

Ellen Babcock, the founding executive director of Friends of the Orphan Signs, said the signs along Central are iconic, historic remnants of mid-century design.

Many, however, have fallen into disrepair or have been abandoned altogether, said Lindsey Fromm, the program director for FOS, an Albuquerque-based organization that describes its mission in part as "collaboratively (revitalizing) abandoned or unused road signs with artwork and poetry."

The friends seek to transform old road signs designated by historic preservation groups as orphaned into works of public art in the hopes of encouraging reinvestment in the community, Babcock said.

"Our efforts to revitalize these disinvested spaces has led to property development," Babcock said. "We have transformed signs of vacant and abandoned storefronts that make them feel more visually appealing. And we've noticed similar sites have since been developed."

A city ordinance that went into effect in the 1970s placed tighter restrictions on the size and structure of road signs, which prevented new signs in the flashy, oversized mid-century style from being built. But the new effort to revitalize signs along the Mother Road has given new hope to future redevelopment efforts.

That's true for Westin Glass, a developer with Palindrome — the firm that has renovated historic properties like El Vado Motel and is currently renovating the Imperial Inn — who said "these kind of programs really help."

"We gotta figure out a way to get people to come to Central to live and work and play and, you know, that will inspire more development to happen and it kind of builds momentum," Glass said.