Highway sign mishap in New Mexico: Albuquerque spelled wrong in ‘simple mistake’

Not everyone is perfect.

Even if it involves a major highway sign.

Recently, drivers on Route 66 and Interstate 40 in New Mexico did double takes, according to the Associated Press.

An upgraded state Department of Transportation sign that was put up last week — and one that pointed drivers toward the city of Albuquerque — misspelled the city’s name.

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How so? It left out the word’s single “R.”

So, instead of spelling the city’s name the right way — Albuquerque — the sign said, “Albuqueque.”

People called and emailed the department to point out the mistake on the highway sign, the AP reported.

The sign was visible to drivers on the parallel highways, said Kimberly Gallegos, a department spokesperson, the AP also noted in an “oddities” report.

A corrected sign went up this week, she said — at no cost, reportedly.

“I do not recall this happening before,” Gallegos said. 

“But I honestly think this was just a simple mistake,” she told the AP.

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This is not the first time the city’s name has been misspelled.

And as someone wrote on social media, inserting a mistake of his own: “These things hapen.”

Albuquerque once had another “R” in its name. 

The city’s website said that King Philip of Spain in 1706 gave colonists permission 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, which contains only one “R,” the city website said.

In a list of commonly misspelled American city names, Albuquerque is right at the top — with a few other notables below it.

Here are the top five:

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Brooklyn, New York

Cleveland, Ohio

Novi, Michigan

Frankfort, Kentucky

Another list includes a mention that Albuquerque is commonly misspelled not just one way — but four different ways: Abaquerque, Albequerque, Albuqerque and Albuquerqe.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.