US hwy ends in Springer, NM

US highway endpoint in Springer, NM

1957-present

The west end of US 56 has been in Springer ever since the route was originally commissioned in 1957.  It has always ended at its junction with US 85 (now historic US 85), even after I-25 was completed through this area in about 1971:

The US 412 designation was extended to Springer in 1994; it overlaps with US 56 west of Boise City OK for 135 miles, and the two routes share a common terminus.  

​Highway signage in New Mexico is often inaccurate, underinformative, haphazard, and/or just plain wrong.  We will start with this one from northbound I-25:

Despite what that sign indicated, travelers did not have to exit there in order to continue on I-25.  That should have been a green shield, because it was a reference to Business Loop I-25.  ​That was fixed sometime after 2009... sort of.  Now it is a Business Loop shield, but it says "South" instead of "North":

If one exits there, they would actually be traveling north on the Business Loop, not south.  It is possible NMDoT meant "south" in the sense that it is Springer's south interchange.  (I suggest that because, similarly, the southbound sign for Exit 414 says "North", even though it should be "South".)  

Regardless, those were the only posted references to Bus. I-25; signage at the exit itself is shown here:

For several years, when one reached the bottom of that northbound ramp, they were not even told which way Springer was, much less how to get to those four highways.  But that particular oversight was corrected sometime after 2015:

Old US 85/unsigned Business 25 is to the right, and then it veers north through town.  In about a half-mile, drivers come to the intersection shown below:

Those were heading east on 4th, and the westernmost segment of US 56-412 is visible.  

​​A similar shield was used for the last westbound marker for the two US routes.  Not so bad... except for the fact that it's 20 miles east of Springer:

That was at the junction with NM 39.  Note the green sign in the background indicates mileage to the route's terminus in Springer, but also to the town of Cimarron (which is odd: if points beyond the terminus are going to be referenced, it would make sense to choose more commons destinations, like Raton or Las Vegas, rather than Cimarron; but a possible explanation is below).  This shot shows the end of US 56-412:

In the distance NM 21's underpass at I-25 is visible.  Note also the first westbound NM 21 sign next to a big green sign, shown close-up here:

That green sign is posted about a block too late, but that is not out of the ordinary in New Mexico.  Last but not least, we will travel southbound.  Here is the signage from I-25:

Note that somebody decided to use a slash on that shield.  Signage in NM is... well, "freeform", to put it nicely.  No direction is provided on the offramp, but assuming a traveler guesses correctly and crosses the overpass, they will eventually wind up on southbound Maxwell approaching 4th: