New Mexico State Road 273

The highway begins in Sunland Park at the Texas state line, just west of the Rio Grande river. The road travels from south to north, generally following the flow of the Rio Grande river. NM 273 starts out as two-lane highway for the first , at which point it widens to four lanes. Shortly after the intersection with NM 498 (Racetrack Drive), the road becomes a 5-lane highway with a center turning lane. The road travels by residential and commercial areas of the town of Sunland Park, skirting it from the east for the next 4 miles. After NM 273 passes by the campus of Doña Ana Community College. Continuing in the general northwest direction, the highway passes Riverside Elementary School at a 4-mile mark. After leaving the community of Sunland Park, NM 273 enters the town of Santa Teresa, passes Santa Teresa Middle School, and turns farther northwest, further deviating from the flow of the Rio Grande. After approximately the road turns north and shortly after intersects NM 136. After the junction, the road narrows to two lanes and remains a 2-lane highway for the remainder of its journey. NM 273 continues north for about , skirting the fields and pecan orchards of Mesilla Valley from the west, then turns east. After about one mile, the road turns north, and almost immediately east again, and reaches its northern terminus at intersection with NM 28. ==History==

NM 273 first appeared on New Mexico Official Road Map published in 1950. Originally, its northern terminus was farther north, at the New Mexico-Texas border, east of La Union, past the current intersection of NM 182 and NM 28, at the east terminus of NM 183. The road followed Alvarez Road to La Union before turning east and following modern day NM 182, then briefly running north concurrently with NM 28, and lastly following NM 183. The current stretch of NM 273 east of Alvarez Road was known as NM 319 as can be seen on 1950s maps. In 1988 the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) went through a radical road renumbering program, and NM 273 was re-routed over the path of NM 319, while Alvarez Road was eliminated from the state control, and the northern portion of NM 273 between NM 28 and La Union was designated as NM 182, whereas a segment east of NM 28 was designated as NM 183 as can be seen from 1995 map. ==Major intersections==