New Mexico State Road 599

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Santa Fe Relief Route

Maintained by NMDOT

Length:

14.0 mi^[1] (22.5 km)

North end:

US 84 near Santa Fe

To:

I-25 near Santa Fe

State Roads in New Mexico
< NM 598		NM 601 >

New Mexico Route 599, also known as the Santa Fe Relief Route, is a state highway in New Mexico, United States of America. It bypasses the downtown area of the city of Santa Fe and passes through less densely developed terrain on the western edge of the city. Its total length is approximately 14 miles.

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.

[edit] Route description

In contrast to several other state highways in northern New Mexico, New Mexico Route 599 is paved for its entire length. It is predominantly a 4-lane road, with additional lanes in a few places to accommodate merges. Speed limits on most of the highway are 55 miles per hour (mph), with intermittent stretches of 45-mph limits and a higher-speed, 65-mph section at the southern end of the road. Access is limited over much of the length of the route, but several minor roads cross it at intervals, controlled by stop signs (none on NM 599 itself) or traffic lights near the southern end.