Aug 29 2009
Downtown Albuquerque aerial
Downtown Albuquerque is the central business district of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is where a large number of the city’s highrise buildings are located, as well as being the center of government and business for the region.
Downtown is roughly defined as the area between Marble Avenue, Coal Avenue, Seventh Street, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks. The area on the east side of the railroad tracks is known as East Downtown or EDo
Street grid
Downtown Albuquerque is laid out in a standard grid pattern, with numbered north-south streets and named eastwest avenues. Central Avenue (originally known as Railroad Avenue) is the main east-west thoroughfare through the center of Downtown, while Lomas Boulevard (originally New York Avenue) is a major east-west arterial through the north part of downtown.
The streets start with First Street just west of the railroad tracks and increase in number moving westward.
Fourth Street was originally the main north-south thoroughfare through Downtown but today it is discontinuous, interrupted by Civic Plaza and a two-block pedestrian mall north of Central. Since these developments took place Second Street has been the main north-south street through downtown.
Fourth Street through downtown Albuquerque was part of U.S. Route 66 prior to the route’s 1937 realignment.
Afterwards, Route 66 ran along Central Avenue until its decommissioning.
