Tijeras Canyon Road

Tijeras Canyon Road. . , Tijeras Canyon Road was the original wagon road that linked Old Town Plaza to the community of Carnué in Tijeras Canyon. This thoroughfare was used as early as 1706 after the founding of the Spanish Villa de Albuquerque, the origin of today's Old Town. A number of old placita-style buildings, with single-fille rooms surrounding a small plaza, were built along the road prior to the establishment of Albuquerque's New Town in 1880. Tijeras Avenue is the only road in downtown Albuquerque that does not conform to the grid system of New Albuquerque because it follows the curving route of the old wagon trail., In 1904, the main north-south road in New Mexico was commemorated as El Camino Real Highway, New Mexico Route 1. This road followed Fourth Street into Albuquerque and crossed Tijeras Avenue at this site. In 1926 New Mexico Route 1 was incorporated into the federal highway system and this segment of the highway became part of US 66 and US 85. In 1937 Route 66 was re-directed along Central Avenue, and Fourth Street remained part of US 85. This important crossroads of old wagon trails and early highways became part of the Fourth Street Pedestrian Way in 1982.