New Mexico city to promote businesses along Route 66

New Mexico’s largest city will be investing a half-million dollars to promote businesses that line its stretch of historic Route 66.

Albuquerque announced the effort Friday, saying it’s looking for a marketing firm to develop a plan to promote the corridor as a destination. The plan also will highlight the city’s rapid transit bus route as a way to access the area.

City officials said the campaign would be aimed at bringing back locals to Central Avenue and attracting new visitors. Shop owners along the road had complained as years of construction related to Albuquerque Rapid Transit, or ART, hampered business and forced some stores to close.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said the coronavirus public health emergency is now hitting boutiques, restaurants, bars and other businesses along the route. Most are locally owned.

“The businesses on Central need our support more than ever,” he said. “We are going to use this time to make sure that when we get through this challenge, people come back to Route 66. With this investment now, we hope to help prime our community for a comeback all up and down Central.”

Albuquerque is home to the longest urban stretch of Route 66. City officials say it’s a critical driver of small business and job creation. It includes some of Albuquerque’s most prominent arts and culture attractions.

Known as the “Mother Road,” Route 66 was created in 1926 after the Bureau of Public Roads launched the nation’s first federal highway system, bringing together existing local and state roads from Chicago through St. Louis to Los Angeles. Small towns opened shops, motels and gas stations to pump revenue into local economies just as the nation’s car culture took off.

One of the first roads in the U.S. highway system, Route 66 spanned more than 2,400 miles (3,862 kilometers) and ran through eight states.

The marketing firm that will be charged with breathing new life into the Central Avenue corridor will be required to work closely with businesses, property owners, neighborhood associations and community groups in the area. The goals include increasing consumer traffic once the public health emergency is lifted, increasing sales revenue among businesses, boosting the number of hotel bookings and growing ridership on the ART bus route.