Albuquerque Area Highway Projects

[abqtraveler]

Over the past several years, NMDOT has been gradually reconstructing and widening I-25 through the Albuquerque Metro Area.  In 2016, the new flyover from I-25N to Paseo Del Norte west was completed. The following year, NMDOT added a travel lane in each direction on I-25 from PDN to Jefferson.

This week, NMDOT announced that the project to reconfigure the I-25/Rio Bravo (NM-500) interchange (Exit 220) is nearing completion.  This project has been ongoing since 2017, and replaces the old diamond interchange with a modified SPUI configuration.  When complete, I-25 will have three travel lanes in each direction from Sunport Boulevard to about 3 miles south of the Rio Bravo interchange. 

https://www.abqjournal.com/1339902/rio-bravoi25-project-nears-the-finish-line.html

Two additional projects are scheduled to get going in the next year or two:  adding a travel lane in each direction on I-25 to the Broadway interchange (Exit 215), and reconstructing the I-25/Montgomery Boulevard interchange (Exit 228).  In the case of the latter, the overpass that carries Montgomery Boulevard over I-25 will be replaced and widened.  Ramps will be reconfigured, and I-25 through the interchange will be widened.

And that will leave the dreaded S-curve between Central and Gibson as the last major stretch of I-25 through Albuquerque left to be rebuilt, widened and straightened out.

[nexus73]

Being a city of 1 million and having two Interstates intersecting, I always wondered why some sort of loop road was never built there?  Passing through in October 2017 left me the impression that Albuquerque is aligned on a N/S axis.  Is this correct?

My friend and I stayed at the Crossroads Motel.  He is a fan of "Breaking Bad".  The motel is old but not that bad.

Homeless people were camped out underneath an overpass.  A restaurant a few blocks to the west of the motel had no customers but us, yet trying to find an employee was tough.  This area has a strange vibe.

Things could be worse.  We could have been in Amarillo!  The stay the next night at an America's Best off of I-40 in that city resulted in a room reeking of chemicals, a shower that would not drain, a toilet which had a hard time flushing and some very questionable characters being present. 

Rick

[abqtraveler]

Being a city of 1 million and having two Interstates intersecting, I always wondered why some sort of loop road was never built there?  Passing through in October 2017 left me the impression that Albuquerque is aligned on a N/S axis.  Is this correct?

My friend and I stayed at the Crossroads Motel.  He is a fan of "Breaking Bad".  The motel is old but not that bad.

Homeless people were camped out underneath an overpass.  A restaurant a few blocks to the west of the motel had no customers but us, yet trying to find an employee was tough.  This area has a strange vibe.

Things could be worse.  We could have been in Amarillo!  The stay the next night at an America's Best off of I-40 in that city resulted in a room reeking of chemicals, a shower that would not drain, a toilet which had a hard time flushing and some very questionable characters being present. 

Rick

A beltway around Albuquerque was originally proposed in 1969, and the freeway portions of Paseo Del Norte (NM-423) between I-25 and Coors Boulevard was the only portion of that plan that was ever completed.  Tramway and other parts of PDN were built as 4-lane arterials through what was undeveloped ranchland at the time, with land set aside for future interchanges. When the time came to convert at-grade intersections to interchanges, development had expanded to Tramway and PDN and beyond, and residents of these new subdivisions fought the conversion of these roads to freeways. Another problem is the southeastern quadrant of the beltway would have cut through Kirtland Air Force Base, and the Air Force would obviously say, "Not no, but Hell No," to routing a freeway though the back part of the base that has multiple test and training ranges.  And so, the 1969 beltway proposal never came into being.

Fast-forward 40 years, and the the latest proposal is the Northwest Loop, which would run from I-40 atop Nine Mile Hill near the Atrisco Vista interchange to I-25 near Algodones.  Part of this loop has already been completed in Rio Rancho as NM-347, and is currently a 2-lane road running from Unser Boulevard to US-550.  The right-of-way to complete the Northwest Loop from I-40 to US-550 is already established with room for future expansion to 4 or 6 lanes, interchanges and overpasses.  The section from US-550 to I-25 is less certain since it would cut through the Santa Ana reservation, and acquiring the right of way through the reservation will be a touchy subject with the Native Americans.  The best NMDOT could hope for is the Santa Ana Tribe agreeing to some sort of a land swap to establish the ROW through the reservation, but then you still have the issue of building a bridge across the Rio Grande before the loop ties back into I-25 around Algodones.

[nexus73]

Thank you for the info abqtraveler!  Learning something new today!  The story reminds me of how Eugene-Springfield's proposed freeway loop wound up as a partial loop and one small stretch of isolated freeway in the south hills area. 

Rick

[Verlanka]

Being a city of 1 million and having two Interstates intersecting, I always wondered why some sort of loop road was never built there?  Passing through in October 2017 left me the impression that Albuquerque is aligned on a N/S axis.  Is this correct?

It is.

[abqtraveler]

Being a city of 1 million and having two Interstates intersecting, I always wondered why some sort of loop road was never built there?  Passing through in October 2017 left me the impression that Albuquerque is aligned on a N/S axis.  Is this correct?

It is.

The Albuquerque Metro Area is generally aligned along the Rio Grande, with E-W expansion limited by the Sandia and Manzano Mountains to the east, and the Rio Puerco to the west.  There are a number of Native American reservations that also limit how far out the metro area can grow, although development is occurring beyond the Sandia and Manzano Mountains in Edgewood, and south of the Isleta Reservation in Los Lunas and Belen.  In fact, Facebook just opened a huge data center in Los Lunas that will cause that town to grow exponentially in the coming years.

[DJStephens]

And that will leave the dreaded S-curve between Central and Gibson as the last major stretch of I-25 through Albuquerque left to be rebuilt, widened and straightened out.

That should have been done in conjunction with the '00 - '02 Big I project.  At least $25 million was squandered building new bridges for I-25 over Lomas, to connect with an archaic elevated segment built in the late fifties.   The entire section should have been trenched, with parallel frontage roads extending at least down to Stadium Blvd.  Seems it could have been popular with the leftist crowd, too, as deck parks and green space could have been provided atop the covered 25 trench.  It would have reconnected the city, to some degree, in the Central Ave and Lead/Coal areas as well.   

[DJStephens]

A beltway around Albuquerque was originally proposed in 1969, and the freeway portions of Paseo Del Norte (NM-423) between I-25 and Coors Boulevard was the only portion of that plan that was ever completed.  Tramway and other parts of PDN were built as 4-lane arterials through what was undeveloped ranchland at the time, with land set aside for future interchanges. When the time came to convert at-grade intersections to interchanges, development had expanded to Tramway and PDN and beyond, and residents of these new subdivisions fought the conversion of these roads to freeways. Another problem is the southeastern quadrant of the beltway would have cut through Kirtland Air Force Base, and the Air Force would obviously say, "Not no, but Hell No," to routing a freeway though the back part of the base that has multiple test and training ranges.  And so, the 1969 beltway proposal never came into being.

[/quote]

Was under the belief that any beltway plan used the Juan Tabo corridor, not Tramway.  Juan Tabo could have been built, in a Texas fashion, with a wide median, to allow future construction of freeway mainline in the said median.   The intersection of Tramway, and Paseo del Norte was allowed to become completely packed in by development, as was the Juan Tabo corridor, and the Tramway/I-40 interchange, as well.  Not very good planning or foresight in New Mexico, generally. 

[Rothman]

And that will leave the dreaded S-curve between Central and Gibson as the last major stretch of I-25 through Albuquerque left to be rebuilt, widened and straightened out.

That should have been done in conjunction with the '00 - '02 Big I project.  At least $25 million was squandered building new bridges for I-25 over Lomas, to connect with an archaic elevated segment built in the late fifties.   The entire section should have been trenched, with parallel frontage roads extending at least down to Stadium Blvd.  Seems it could have been popular with the leftist crowd, too, as deck parks and green space could have been provided atop the covered 25 trench.  It would have reconnected the city, to some degree, in the Central Ave and Lead/Coal areas as well.

New Mexico must have money galore if it could have done all that for the same price as the bridge work.

[US 89]

I'm thoroughly unimpressed by the planning I've observed in Albuquerque, and I think it's a case of the city growing a lot faster than it expected, without a real plan for how to deal with it.

Tramway miiight have enough ROW to squeeze in interchanges in the style of Bangerter Highway in Salt Lake (read: very tight SPUIs), though that might mean taking out the bike path which would definitely be a no-go. However, unlike UT, NM is not a forward looking state, and pretty much the entire Tramway corridor is rich NIMBYland.

The Coors/40 cloverstack also makes me sad because it's a wasted overpowered interchange. Coors really should have been planned as a high-speed expressway bypass with the ability to easily upgrade to freeway. Instead, it's now essentially just another un-upgradable suburban arterial filled with traffic lights and driveways.

Paseo is just a lost cause, in my opinion. I'm amazed they even got the watered-down interchange built at 25. IIRC, original plans had the freeway going east all the way past Louisiana...good luck with that.

The Albuquerque Metro Area is generally aligned along the Rio Grande, with E-W expansion limited by the Sandia and Manzano Mountains to the east, and the Rio Puerco to the west.  There are a number of Native American reservations that also limit how far out the metro area can grow, although development is occurring beyond the Sandia and Manzano Mountains in Edgewood, and south of the Isleta Reservation in Los Lunas and Belen.  In fact, Facebook just opened a huge data center in Los Lunas that will cause that town to grow exponentially in the coming years.

Used to be that the Petroglyph National Monument was the limiting factor to any western growth. However, there's significant development ongoing today on the other side such that a lot of it is now surrounded by urbanized area. I'd be curious to see if any development ever happens out in the Atrisco Vista/Double Eagle area.

[abqtraveler]

I’m thoroughly unimpressed by the planning I’ve observed in Albuquerque, and I think it’s a case of the city growing a lot faster than it expected, without a real plan for how to deal with it.

Tramway miiight have enough ROW to squeeze in interchanges in the style of Bangerter Highway in Salt Lake (read: very tight SPUIs), though that might mean taking out the bike path which would definitely be a no-go. However, unlike UT, NM is not a forward looking state, and pretty much the entire Tramway corridor is rich NIMBYland.

The Coors/40 cloverstack also makes me sad because it’s a wasted overpowered interchange. Coors really should have been planned as a high-speed expressway bypass with the ability to easily upgrade to freeway. Instead, it’s now essentially just another un-upgradable suburban arterial filled with traffic lights and driveways.

Paseo is just a lost cause, in my opinion. I’m amazed they even got the watered-down interchange built at 25. IIRC, original plans had the freeway going east all the way past Louisiana...good luck with that.

The Albuquerque Metro Area is generally aligned along the Rio Grande, with E-W expansion limited by the Sandia and Manzano Mountains to the east, and the Rio Puerco to the west.  There are a number of Native American reservations that also limit how far out the metro area can grow, although development is occurring beyond the Sandia and Manzano Mountains in Edgewood, and south of the Isleta Reservation in Los Lunas and Belen.  In fact, Facebook just opened a huge data center in Los Lunas that will cause that town to grow exponentially in the coming years.

Used to be that the Petroglyph National Monument was the limiting factor to any western growth. However, there’s significant development ongoing today on the other side such that a lot of it is now surrounded by urbanized area. I’d be curious to see if any development ever happens out in the Atrisco Vista/Double Eagle area.

A lot of the area around Double Eagle II and Atrisco Vista is BLM land, so it's unlikely that significant development will occur anytime soon along Atrisco Vista, away from I-40.

That being said, there is the currently undeveloped land on the south side of I-40 that is part of the Santolina master plan that runs from 118th Street to the far side of the West Mesa (not quite to the Rio Puerco, but pretty close).  The developers of Santolina envision a community of around 30,000 homes capable of housing up to 100,000 residents when the plan is fully built out over the next 50 years.  What's not clear at this time is whether or not the Santolina development will be annexed into the City of Albuquerque as it is built, or become incorporated as its own master-planned city like Rio Rancho.  Still, there are a lot of obstacles that the developers of Santolina have to overcome before they can start moving dirt, notably the slew of lawsuits that have the development plans tied up in the courts.

[DJStephens]

And that will leave the dreaded S-curve between Central and Gibson as the last major stretch of I-25 through Albuquerque left to be rebuilt, widened and straightened out.

That should have been done in conjunction with the '00 - '02 Big I project.  At least $25 million was pissed away building new bridges for I-25 over Lomas, to connect with an archaic elevated segment built in the late fifties.   The entire section should have been trenched, with parallel frontage roads extending at least down to Stadium Blvd.  Seems it could have been popular with the leftist crowd, too, as deck parks and green space could have been provided atop the covered 25 trench.  It would have reconnected the city, to some degree, in the Central Ave and Lead/Coal areas as well.

New Mexico must have money galore if it could have done all that for the same price as the bridge work.

close to $700 million was squandered on the pet train and fantasy spaceport.  Via bonds, to the best of knowledge.  To benefit a handful.   The Big I was aprox $200 - $215 million total.   Including the new Indian School Road bridge over I -25 and the hump up over Lomas Blvd, to connect to the late fifties elevated section over Central Ave and Lead/Coal.   

[Plutonic Panda]

And that will leave the dreaded S-curve between Central and Gibson as the last major stretch of I-25 through Albuquerque left to be rebuilt, widened and straightened out.

That should have been done in conjunction with the '00 - '02 Big I project.  At least $25 million was pissed away building new bridges for I-25 over Lomas, to connect with an archaic elevated segment built in the late fifties.   The entire section should have been trenched, with parallel frontage roads extending at least down to Stadium Blvd.  Seems it could have been popular with the leftist crowd, too, as deck parks and green space could have been provided atop the covered 25 trench.  It would have reconnected the city, to some degree, in the Central Ave and Lead/Coal areas as well.

New Mexico must have money galore if it could have done all that for the same price as the bridge work.

close to $700 million was squandered on the pet train and fantasy spaceport.  Via bonds, to the best of knowledge.  To benefit a handful.   The Big I was aprox $200 - $215 million total.   Including the new Indian School Road bridge over I -25 and the hump up over Lomas Blvd, to connect to the late fifties elevated section over Central Ave and Lead/Coal.

I like the train and have used it on occasion. I think there are some things like better transit access in the end cities that could make it better along with an extension into Denver. The Spaceport is bold thinking and I bet long term we will see much more use of such things but the location is mind boggling. It's almost an hour drive from the nearest interstate. At least Oklahoma's space port is like 10 minutes from I-40.

[Occidental Tourist]

I like the train and have used it on occasion. I think there are some things like better transit access in the end cities that could make it better along with an extension into Denver. The Spaceport is bold thinking and I bet long term we will see much more use of such things but the location is mind boggling. It's almost an hour drive from the nearest interstate. At least Oklahoma's space port is like 10 minutes from I-40.

The Rail Runner cost a ton of money to build and only serves a 100-mile stretch.  Of the $10 cost of a single ticket between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, an additional $30 of tax dollars has to be spent per passenger to subsidize the trip.  It cost hundreds of millions to build, has lots of debt that keeps getting refinanced, and has been steadily losing ridership for almost a decade.  It currently carries less than 1,400 roundtrip fares per day.

If you add another 400 miles to the line to make it go to Denver, imagine how much money it would cost and how much per trip it would lose then.  Who would choose to ride it, 6 to 8 hours on a train versus an hour on a plane?  To be competitive with a $99 Southwest ticket, how much a tax subsidy would a train ticket need then?

[Plutonic Panda]

I like the train and have used it on occasion. I think there are some things like better transit access in the end cities that could make it better along with an extension into Denver. The Spaceport is bold thinking and I bet long term we will see much more use of such things but the location is mind boggling. It's almost an hour drive from the nearest interstate. At least Oklahoma's space port is like 10 minutes from I-40.

The Rail Runner cost a ton of money to build and only serves a 100-mile stretch.  Of the $10 cost of a single ticket between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, an additional $30 of tax dollars has to be spent per passenger to subsidize the trip.  It cost hundreds of millions to build, has lots of debt that keeps getting refinanced, and has been steadily losing ridership for almost a decade.  It currently carries less than 1,400 roundtrip fares per day.

If you add another 400 miles to the line to make it go to Denver, imagine how much money it would cost and how much per trip it would lose then.  Who would choose to ride it, 6 to 8 hours on a train versus an hour on a plane?  To be competitive with a $99 Southwest ticket, how much a tax subsidy would a train ticket need then?

Mass transit agencies around the country have been reporting decreases in ridership, so this train line isn't out of the ordinary. We'll see what happens. There are things that can be done to bring more riders aboard and most infrastructure is subsidized to an extent.

[abqtraveler]

There is a proposal to construct a short limited access bypass along the northern edge of Kirtland AFB from where Gibson Blvd currently ends at Louisiana Blvd to Eubank at Southern Blvd.  The Air Force has offered the City of Albuquerque a strip of undeveloped land on the base at no cost in exchange for the city constructing and maintaining the bypass.  I would love to see this bypass get funded and built.

https://www.krqe.com/news/kirtland-afb-offers-albuquerque-land-for-east-west-gibson-bypass-road/

[DJStephens]

I like the train and have used it on occasion. I think there are some things like better transit access in the end cities that could make it better along with an extension into Denver. The Spaceport is bold thinking and I bet long term we will see much more use of such things but the location is mind boggling. It's almost an hour drive from the nearest interstate. At least Oklahoma's space port is like 10 minutes from I-40.

The Rail Runner cost a ton of money to build and only serves a 100-mile stretch.  Of the $10 cost of a single ticket between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, an additional $30 of tax dollars has to be spent per passenger to subsidize the trip.  It cost hundreds of millions to build, has lots of debt that keeps getting refinanced, and has been steadily losing ridership for almost a decade.  It currently carries less than 1,400 roundtrip fares per day.

If you add another 400 miles to the line to make it go to Denver, imagine how much money it would cost and how much per trip it would lose then.  Who would choose to ride it, 6 to 8 hours on a train versus an hour on a plane?  To be competitive with a $99 Southwest ticket, how much a tax subsidy would a train ticket need then?

Mass transit agencies around the country have been reporting decreases in ridership, so this train line isn't out of the ordinary. We'll see what happens. There are things that can be done to bring more riders aboard and most infrastructure is subsidized to an extent.

Put them (if they exist) on a rubber tired Bus.  If a bus system had been adopted, in lieu of the "roadrunner" it would have cost a fraction to build, and not created an additional government agency.   Existing highways (I-25) would have been utilized.   A handful of elites in the Richardson administration made the decision to plow ahead with the money losing train.  As for the Space Port, it should have been constructed with Private money.   In this instance, Richard Bransons' an opportunist if there ever was one.   Personally, don't believe the Space Port will ever amount to anything, other than it being either an Albatross, or a White Elephant, or some combination of both. 

[Bobby5280]

I'm thoroughly unimpressed by the planning I've observed in Albuquerque, and I think it's a case of the city growing a lot faster than it expected, without a real plan for how to deal with it.

Albuquerque's highway system is pretty much a carbon copy of where Phoenix was 40 years ago and where Austin was 30 years ago. No loop freeways/toll roads or anything like that. Then those cities had their proverbial "come to Jesus" moment and finally relented on getting some new roads built. Phoenix and Austin both have been growing rapidly. And even though there are plenty of anti-freeway "new urbanist" types in both cities they've had to develop some pretty ambitious super highway projects in response to that growth.

In the case of Albuquerque it's probably a miracle NM DOT could even get the "Big I" interchange with I-40 & I-25 built. The city limits population is 560,000 and the metro population is just over 1 million. That makes Albuquerque almost as large as Oklahoma City. Yet OKC has a far more developed super highway network (and even it is pretty quaint by Texas standards).

But, yeah, Albuquerque's streets and highways network is a mess. Giant stretches of the city are pure stop light hell for anyone to cross. I'm sure online merchants like Amazon have to be absolutely loving that situation. Make driving around town a terrible enough experience and it will encourage customers to stay at home and order their stuff online rather than support local businesses.

Colorado Springs is in almost as bad a situation. Some of their main arterials, such as Powers Blvd and Woodmen Road out East, are upgrade-able to Interstate quality. Although some of the upgrading would be a really tight squeeze. The question is whether CDOT will do those upgrades before those roads get totally choked with development encroachment. At least a plan is gaining traction to extend the short freeway portion of Powers Blvd out to I-25. I really hate US-24 going out East of Colorado Springs. The portion from Falcon out to Peyton is a freaking 2-lane death trap. They need to upgrade that to 4 lane divided already. Unfortunately the priority is building all kinds of wide, divided, land-scaped streets in big housing developments and then letting all that residential traffic dump out onto very stunted, puny main highways. It's totally idiotic and the practice absolutely smells of political graft.

[DJStephens]

   One thing in Albuquerque's favor, though, is the gridiron in pretty much the entire NE quadrant.  Four to six lane arterials, with major intersections a mile apart.   Guessing it was laid out in the forties and fifties.   It can move fairly large amounts of traffic, somewhat efficiently, without grade separations or freeway elements.    The entire E side of Tucson is similarly set up, with a fairly well defined gridiron.
   They certainly dropped the ball, though, starting in the mid sixties.   A ROW for a loop could have been purchased, cheaply, and set aside for an Albuquerque Interstate circumferential then.  Lack of a highway advocate, tribal politics, and simply a lack of planning, zoning, and land use decision making all could be blamed.   

[Bobby5280]

In Colorado Springs widely spaced intersections are what helps keep Powers Blvd from turning into a total slog South of the Woodmen Road interchange. Each stop light seems like it is spaced about a mile apart. Long term I think there is still some broader desire to turn Powers Blvd into an Interstate quality half-loop with I-25. The exits on the freeway portions have exit numbers that correspond with I-25 mileage.

Traffic filtering for main arterial streets is a big deal in modern urban planning. Looking at overhead satellite imagery it's pretty easy to tell the newer parts of cities versus older ones for all those design trends. 40 years ago no one cared if a freaking taco joint wanted the entrances to its parking lots and drive thru lanes connecting directly with the main high volume street/highway. Every business store front and connecting street crossed the main road. The result is you get far less efficient flow of traffic and more fender benders. So much of Houston is still laid out in old fashioned grids where driveways and crossing streets have no restrictions of access to main artery surface streets. It creates grid-lock issues so bad they'll back-up onto the main Interstate routes.

Nevertheless, waiting at numerous stop lights is still waiting at numerous stop lights. In Albuquerque you can be driving on one of the newer, less cluttered segments of Coors Blvd to the North of I-40 and still take a long time to get from point A to point B for all the time you have to spend at stop lights. Closer to I-40 there's a lot more in the way of driveways and other junk dumping traffic on/off Coors Blvd. There are other bad, less controlled/filtered segments of that road both North and South of I-40.

[abqtraveler]

   One thing in Albuquerque's favor, though, is the gridiron in pretty much the entire NE quadrant.  Four to six lane arterials, with major intersections a mile apart.   Guessing it was laid out in the forties and fifties.   It can move fairly large amounts of traffic, somewhat efficiently, without grade separations or freeway elements.    The entire E side of Tucson is similarly set up, with a fairly well defined gridiron.
   They certainly dropped the ball, though, starting in the mid sixties.   A ROW for a loop could have been purchased, cheaply, and set aside for an Albuquerque Interstate circumferential then.  Lack of a highway advocate, tribal politics, and simply a lack of planning, zoning, and land use decision making all could be blamed.   

Development has largely been uncontrolled to the west of the Rio Grande, with a building boom of subdivisions over the past 30 years and no accommodation for infrastructure to move people in and out of these subdivisions. So what you're seeing today is very much a piecemeal approach to fixing the huge traffic problems that have since emerged on the west side.  The new flyover ramp from I-25 to Paseo Del Norte fixed the huge bottleneck at the I-25/PDN interchange, but moved the bottleneck further down PDN to its interchange with Coors, and there was hope the I-25/PDN project would alleviate gridlock on Alameda.  Unfortunately, Alameda is as congested today as it was before the I-25/PDN project was done.

And then there's Coors North, which carries the amount of traffic a normal interstate would carry, but is plagued with miles of out-of-sync traffic lights that causes traffic to back up for miles each afternoon during rush hour (I recall at least a few times Coors North traffic backing up onto I-40 as far east as the Louisiana Blvd interchange, about 7 miles away). Coors should have been converted to a freeway a long time ago, but out our elected leaders have no interest in making Coors a free-flow road. If anything, they're talking about adding more traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, which is not surprising given that our elected officials out here are thinking completely backwards when it comes to transportation planning.

[Bobby5280]

Coors Blvd is pretty much a lost cause. The upgrades along Paseo Del Norte Blvd from I-25 out West are better than nothing. But it sure isn't Interstate quality either. Albuquerque is going to be stuck with nothing better than spot upgrades of busy intersections if there is room to build anything. Some intersections might be able to squeeze in grade separations, in the style of US-60 NW of Downtown Phoenix.

[will_e_777]

is there enough room for a NW bypass along Paseo Del Norte, then using that road on the west side of the Petroglyph Monument by the Double Eagle airport back down to I40?

[abqtraveler]

is there enough room for a NW bypass along Paseo Del Norte, then using that road on the west side of the Petroglyph Monument by the Double Eagle airport back down to I40?

PDN from Coors to Paseo Del Volcan varies from 2 to 4 lanes with room for expansion west of Unser. From Unser to Coors, they have allowed development to encroach right up to the major intersections, so converting the at-grade intersections at Golf Course and Unser to interchanges would require the state to acquire private property to accommodate the interchanges. A bit of good news though, a $37 million project is underway to widen PDN from Golf Course to Rainbow, which will extend the 4-lane section of PDN west past Rainbow. 

Apparently with the latest spending binge New Mexico is on right now, it looks like the legislature earmarked funding for ROW acquisition for the next section of Paseo Del Volcan, immediately south of where it currently ends at Unser in Rio Rancho. There is hope that PDV will eventually be completed, and hopefully our elected leaders have enough sense to not repeat the mistakes of the past and build PDV as a freeway, as originally envisioned.

[DJStephens]

Coors Blvd is pretty much a lost cause. The upgrades along Paseo Del Norte Blvd from I-25 out West are better than nothing. But it sure isn't Interstate quality either. Albuquerque is going to be stuck with nothing better than spot upgrades of busy intersections if there is room to build anything. Some intersections might be able to squeeze in grade separations, in the style of US-60 NW of Downtown Phoenix.

Your earlier comments about "stop light hell" were pretty much spot on.  Spent several days a month ago in Albuquerque, for some work related training seminars.   Had not been there in over a decade.  Everything pretty much has gotten completely jammed up with traffic.   Rio Bravo, on the south side, even though it has been widened, is a complete parking lot in the afternoon.  Three traffic lights, and the rail road crossing for the BSNF and that overblown train.   Just nothing in the way of planning.