I’ve been away for a couple of days, visiting with my sister and her husband in Albuquerque, N.M.

We caravaned over there with them, actually. They’re finishing up a long road trip and they are on their way home to the Pacific Northwest after spending a few days with us in Amarillo. But here’s what I discovered in Albuquerque: The New Mexico Department of Transportation knows how to dress up a freeway interchange. The folks who run the Texas Department of Transportation’s division headquarters in Amarillo ought to take a drive over there and see for themselves how to make an interchange aesthetically pleasing to passersby.

The “Big I,” as the locals call it, is where Interstates 40 and 25 intersect. One young hotel employee told us that it’s called the Big I because the interstate routes end up at the country’s northern and southern borders, and at both oceans. Hence, it’s the Big I. My wife and I drove through the Big I a few times shortly after our arrival in the Panhandle while it was still under construction.

But it got done. Now it provides a reasonably safe commute through Albuquerque.

Here, though, is where it stands out: The landscape décor is outstanding. It features plenty of rocks, native plants (such as several types of cacti), and a paint scheme that looks similar to what TxDOT did when it rebuilt the I-40/27 interchange in Amarillo.

However, the Amarillo interchange landscaping, shall we say, leaves plenty to be desired. Aw, heck, I’ll just say it: It looks hideous.

I know this has been a sore subject with some of my fellow Amarillo neighbors. One of them is a friend of mine, Roger Cox, a lawyer who’s griped publicly about the lack of a finishing touch done to the interchange. He has made an important point, which is that the interchange often is seen only one time by motorists passing through the city. Why not, Roger has asked, make it pleasing to the eye, given that they might not pass this way again?

I agree with my friend.

And after driving through the Big I several times this weekend I have seen how these kinds of construction projects can help sell a city.