ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Known for iconic cars, roadside motels, and of course, the neon, Albuquerque’s east Central stretch of Route 66 will soon welcome a massive, vibrant new icon to the city skyline.
“It’ll be part of what makes us special. I’m excited to see it light up at night,” exclaimed District 9 Councilor Renée Grout. “So in 2023, we worked with the Wilson and Company and started figuring out where we could put one.”
Now entering her fourth year on Albuquerque City Council, Renee Grout has been determined to revitalize her hometown main street, leading to the creation of this soon-to-be-installed neon-inspired sign west off Tramway Blvd. “Well, I love the silhouette of the different buildings. And then it’s going to be the backdrop is going to be our beautiful sunsets. We have so much to be proud of here in Albuquerque. And this sign kind of captures quite a bit of it,” continued Councilor Grout.
After gathering ideas through a community survey, Zeon Signs helped bring those concepts to life. “They had some original ideas, and then we put it in front of our designers to create, you know, what we feel like is going to be a monumental piece to put on Central and part of Route 66,” said James Rodgers, the President and Owner of Zeon Signs.
Rodgers called it one of his most memorable projects, standing over 13 feet tall and stretching over 25-feet-long, “We met with our fabricators and all of our in-house team, determined all the different steps that it was going to take to kind of put this thing together, how logistically we were going to be able to put it together,” he explained.
Grateful to be part of a historic addition, Rodgers said that the sign is made to stand the test of time, “We kind of consider all of that, especially when we talked about whether or not we were going to put vinyl on the sign or paint. We decided to go with paint because we feel like it would withstand longer in the heat and the sun here in New Mexico.”
Checking in on final adjustments on Monday, Councilor Grout said that she hopes the project will stand as a catalyst on Route 66 to bring new life to its neon history…