ALBUQUERQUE, N,M. (AP) — It made drivers on Route 66 and Interstate 40 in New Mexico do double takes.
A newly upgraded state Department of Transportation sign erected last week that pointed drivers toward Albuquerque misspelled the city’s name, losing the “R.”
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People called and emailed the department to point out the mistake on the sign visible to drivers on the parallel highways, said Kimberly Gallegos, a department spokesperson.
A corrected sign went up this week, she said.
“I do not recall this happening before,” Gallegos said. “But I honestly think this was just a simple mistake.”
Albuquerque used to have another “R” in its name. According to the city’s website, colonists were granted permission in 1706 by King Philip of Spain to establish a new community on the banks of the Rio Grande.
The colony’s governor, Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, wrote a letter to Spain’s Duke of Alburquerque to report that it had been named La Villa de Alburquerque in his honor.
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The first “R” was dropped later, leaving Albuquerque with its current spelling, the city website said.
