One of my recent mapping projects involved updating a wall map for Albuquerque and Sandoval County, New Mexico. My only experience with the area was a brief touchdown on a flight to Portland, Oregon in 2006, so updating the map pretty much involved getting familiar with the area.
There is not too much on the internet covering Albuquerque’s highway network. One site that does exist however, is Steve Riner’s New Mexico Highways page, which covers every Interstate, U.S., and state highway within the state. I used his site often when updating the main arterial routes in Albuquerque, as many appeared to be state highways or represented former routes. But as I went along, I noticed that most of the area highways were truncated or decommissioned, despite being shown on many paper and digital mapping sources. Instead the main area of growth in Albuquerque’s roads involves the building of new arterials and boulevards, especially the two-county Paseo del Volcan and Northwest Loop Road.
After several weeks of research and in conjunction with Andy’s summer trip through the area, we now have a Albuquerque focus page and highway guides covering Interstate 25, Interstate 40, and a part of former U.S. 66 (Central Avenue) in the area. Using Riner’s website, I created an Albuquerque/Rio Rancho map to show the current state highway network and have referenced many of the current and former routes on the new guide.
Yes, it’s really a shame that the Paseo del Volcan and Northwest Loop Road will be arterial and NOT limited access highways. It would have been cool to finally see some 3di’s in the state…
I agree with Brent. The Paseo del Volcan and Northwest Loop should had been limited access highways right from the start (or build as a “boulevard” first with a large median who’ll be reserved for the freeway lanes while the current “boulevard” lanes will act as service roads). Alburquerque might need a beltway in a freeway form sooner then we taught.
Albuquerque would never need a full 4-quadrant beltway – probably the quadrant with the greatest need would be the NW side because that’s probably the direction that would carry the most out of town traffic desiring to bypass the city. But the city isn’t big enough, nor are there sufficient growth projections, to justify a full freeway bypassing downtown. Construction planned for the immediate term is therefore concentrated on maintaining local mobility rather than creating a 3-di level freeway.
awesome map, btw