New Mexico's unusually low speed limits on some highways

[sprjus4]

^ Functionally, they may be freeways but in terms of design standards, they lack full control of access. If the law prohibited non-fully-controlled-access highways from having a speed limit as high as 75 mph, then these segments could not be posted at 75 mph legally.

However, it seems there's nothing preventing it in terms of access control.

[jtespi]

Because NMDOT decided to expand the scope of the I-25/Montgomery interchange to include Comanche, the cost estimate exploded from $70 million to around $200 million for that project. The rebuilt stretch will include braided ramps and Texas-style turnarounds at both Comanche and Montgomery. Now the state needs to find the money to pay for the project.

https://www.i25improved.com

They desperately need to redo the Jefferson Street bridge on I-25. Unfortunately the I-25 Improved project limits end before Jefferson Street. The Jefferson interchange gets so clogged during rush hour with traffic trying to make two left turns to go from Pan American North to South and vice versa. I guess they didn't think omitting the turnarounds would be such a major mistake until traffic counts grew. Having parallel frontage roads without turnarounds really clogs up each intersection with left turning traffic.

In fact Albuquerque doesn't have a single Texas-style turnaround despite I-25 having parallel frontage roads through more than half of the city (beginning north of Coal Ave SE and going all the way to Tramway).

There are passing lane sections on 54 N of Tularosa.  Am of belief they are roughly every five miles.  Not sure how many are in the section between Corona and Vaughn.   Do know there are not any in the "unimproved" narrow section S of Corona.   

Regarding US-54, I think it's absolutely pathetic that the state is allowing the old roadbed to turn back into the surrounding landscape instead of rebuilding it and making US-54 a divided highway. If they decide to change their mind and do it later, it will take more time and money because they'd need to re-grade the abandoned road alignment.

---

Back to the topic of low speed limits, does anyone know why this section of NM-502 was not re-aligned so that a 40 MPH speed limit for the curves wouldn't be needed? It looks like they could have had the road keep going straight and just move/remove those two water tanks. The terrain doesn't look that difficult, for instance they would not need to cut through rock. Those 40 MPH curves are no joke going between Pojoaque and White Rock/Los Alamos. You can't take them any faster than 50 MPH or you'll go into another lane or off the road entirely. Just looking at the satellite view, those curves seem wholly unnecessary.

[skluth]

Because NMDOT decided to expand the scope of the I-25/Montgomery interchange to include Comanche, the cost estimate exploded from $70 million to around $200 million for that project. The rebuilt stretch will include braided ramps and Texas-style turnarounds at both Comanche and Montgomery. Now the state needs to find the money to pay for the project.

https://www.i25improved.com

They desperately need to redo the Jefferson Street bridge on I-25. Unfortunately the I-25 Improved project limits end before Jefferson Street. The Jefferson interchange gets so clogged during rush hour with traffic trying to make two left turns to go from Pan American North to South and vice versa. I guess they didn't think omitting the turnarounds would be such a major mistake until traffic counts grew. Having parallel frontage roads without turnarounds really clogs up each intersection with left turning traffic.

Sounds like they should rebuild it as a DDI

[abqtraveler]

Because NMDOT decided to expand the scope of the I-25/Montgomery interchange to include Comanche, the cost estimate exploded from $70 million to around $200 million for that project. The rebuilt stretch will include braided ramps and Texas-style turnarounds at both Comanche and Montgomery. Now the state needs to find the money to pay for the project.

https://www.i25improved.com

They desperately need to redo the Jefferson Street bridge on I-25. Unfortunately the I-25 Improved project limits end before Jefferson Street. The Jefferson interchange gets so clogged during rush hour with traffic trying to make two left turns to go from Pan American North to South and vice versa. I guess they didn't think omitting the turnarounds would be such a major mistake until traffic counts grew. Having parallel frontage roads without turnarounds really clogs up each intersection with left turning traffic.

Sounds like they should rebuild it as a DDI

That stretch of I-25 was built back in the early '60s at a time when Albuquerque had around 90,000 residents.  Fast forward to today, Albuquerque's population is approaching 600,000, not including the nearly 100,000 residents who live in Rio Rancho, most of which use that stretch of I-25 to get to and from jobs in Albuquerque.
At the time when I-25 was built, the idea of Texas-style turnarounds at the interchanges wasn't even a though that came across the minds of engineers at NMDOT. I don't think anyone back in that day would have imagined that the Albuquerque metro area would have expanded to what it is today, and they didn't design its highways to accommodate future growth.

[DJStephens]

Because NMDOT decided to expand the scope of the I-25/Montgomery interchange to include Comanche, the cost estimate exploded from $70 million to around $200 million for that project. The rebuilt stretch will include braided ramps and Texas-style turnarounds at both Comanche and Montgomery. Now the state needs to find the money to pay for the project.

https://www.i25improved.com

They desperately need to redo the Jefferson Street bridge on I-25. Unfortunately the I-25 Improved project limits end before Jefferson Street. The Jefferson interchange gets so clogged during rush hour with traffic trying to make two left turns to go from Pan American North to South and vice versa. I guess they didn't think omitting the turnarounds would be such a major mistake until traffic counts grew. Having parallel frontage roads without turnarounds really clogs up each intersection with left turning traffic.

Sounds like they should rebuild it as a DDI

That stretch of I-25 was built back in the early '60s at a time when Albuquerque had around 90,000 residents.  Fast forward to today, Albuquerque's population is approaching 600,000, not including the nearly 100,000 residents who live in Rio Rancho, most of which use that stretch of I-25 to get to and from jobs in Albuquerque.
At the time when I-25 was built, the idea of Texas-style turnarounds at the interchanges wasn't even a though that came across the minds of engineers at NMDOT. I don't think anyone back in that day would have imagined that the Albuquerque metro area would have expanded to what it is today, and they didn't design its highways to accommodate future growth.

Possess a 1960 official NM state highway map.  It has population figures for all the major (medium to large) municipalities at that time.  Albuquerque is stated as being @201,000 in 1960.  Would like to know it that was indeed true.  Far outstripping virtually ever other place in the state, at that time,as well as today. The Interstate system had not been built out at this time, only disconnected sections had been completed, state wide.  Las Cruces is shown as having a similar population, at that time, to Roswell, Clovis and Alamogordo.   

[MattHanson939]

That stretch of I-25 was built back in the early '60s at a time when Albuquerque had around 90,000 residents.  Fast forward to today, Albuquerque's population is approaching 600,000, not including the nearly 100,000 residents who live in Rio Rancho, most of which use that stretch of I-25 to get to and from jobs in Albuquerque.
At the time when I-25 was built, the idea of Texas-style turnarounds at the interchanges wasn't even a though that came across the minds of engineers at NMDOT. I don't think anyone back in that day would have imagined that the Albuquerque metro area would have expanded to what it is today, and they didn't design its highways to accommodate future growth.

It was actually built in the '50s as NM 422, which was probably intended to be a pre-interstate bypass of US 85 through Albuquerque.  The stretch from Algodones to Bernalillo was an expressway, and from Bernalillo to the Albuquerque city limits was a freeway before downgrading to a surface street and stopping at Menaul.  The stretch from Lomas to Gibson was built between the late '50s and the mid '60s.  A large temporary s-curve was built in '60s to bridge the gap between Lomas and Menaul until the Big-I was completed in 1966.  When the expressway segment between Bernalillo and Algodones was upgraded to Interstate freeway standards in the late '70s/early '80s, NMDOT retired the NM 422 designation.

As Albuquerque grew significantly over time, more interchanges eventually needed to be built along I-25.  While the Tramway/Roy Avenue, San Mateo, and Montgomery interchanges were built in the '50s and '60s, it wasn't until the late '80s that the exits for Comanche/Gallegos, Jefferson, San Antonio/Ellison, and Paseo del Norte were built on I-25 north of the Big-I.  Then sometime between 1991 and 1996, that stretch of I-25 was widened to six lanes between Comanche and Paseo.  The interstate was later widened to six lanes at Alameda around 2001 and then at Tramway in 2006.  Just five years ago, I-25 was widened to eight lanes (four on each side) between the Big-I and Paseo (except at Montgomery/Montaño where the southbound side briefly goes to three lanes).

[abqtraveler]

Because NMDOT decided to expand the scope of the I-25/Montgomery interchange to include Comanche, the cost estimate exploded from $70 million to around $200 million for that project. The rebuilt stretch will include braided ramps and Texas-style turnarounds at both Comanche and Montgomery. Now the state needs to find the money to pay for the project.

https://www.i25improved.com

They desperately need to redo the Jefferson Street bridge on I-25. Unfortunately the I-25 Improved project limits end before Jefferson Street. The Jefferson interchange gets so clogged during rush hour with traffic trying to make two left turns to go from Pan American North to South and vice versa. I guess they didn't think omitting the turnarounds would be such a major mistake until traffic counts grew. Having parallel frontage roads without turnarounds really clogs up each intersection with left turning traffic.

Sounds like they should rebuild it as a DDI

That stretch of I-25 was built back in the early '60s at a time when Albuquerque had around 90,000 residents.  Fast forward to today, Albuquerque's population is approaching 600,000, not including the nearly 100,000 residents who live in Rio Rancho, most of which use that stretch of I-25 to get to and from jobs in Albuquerque.
At the time when I-25 was built, the idea of Texas-style turnarounds at the interchanges wasn't even a though that came across the minds of engineers at NMDOT. I don't think anyone back in that day would have imagined that the Albuquerque metro area would have expanded to what it is today, and they didn't design its highways to accommodate future growth.

Possess a 1960 official NM state highway map.  It has population figures for all the major (medium to large) municipalities at that time.  Albuquerque is stated as being @201,000 in 1960.  Would like to know it that was indeed true.  Far outstripping virtually ever other place in the state, at that time,as well as today. The Interstate system had not been built out at this time, only disconnected sections had been completed, state wide.  Las Cruces is shown as having a similar population, at that time, to Roswell, Clovis and Alamogordo.

I should have clarified on Albuquerque's population a little better. It was 96,000 residents in 1950, and 201,000 residents in 1960.  Of course, the question is how many of those residents actually lived within the city limits, as this was a time when there were a lot of new subdivisions being built in what is now the Northeast Heights. Initially those subdivisions were outside the city limits, but were later integrated into the city when Albuquerque annexed the unincorporated areas where those subdivisions were being built. I don't know at what point annexation actually took place.

[MattHanson939]

If I'm not mistaken, I think I remember reading somewhere that the original alignment of I-25 was intended to be on the west side of ABQ (like where Coors Blvd. runs) with NM 422 being be a local route.  But instead, 422 became the alignment for I-25.

[abqtraveler]

If I'm not mistaken, I think I remember reading somewhere that the original alignment of I-25 was intended to be on the west side of ABQ (like where Coors Blvd. runs) with NM 422 being be a local route.  But instead, 422 became the alignment for I-25.

That would have made sense, given the wide ROW that Coors occupies north of I-40, and the sudden jog west across the Rio Grande that I-25 makes near the Isleta Casino south of Albuquerque.

[US 89]

Coors should have been a freeway or at least had right of way reserved for one. But despite the new overpowered interchange at I-40, that ship sailed a long time ago.

[abqtraveler]

Coors should have been a freeway or at least had right of way reserved for one. But despite the new overpowered interchange at I-25, that ship sailed a long time ago.

Especially for the stretch between I-40 and Cottonwood Mall. But...progressive thinking defies logic and the powers that be in the Albuquerque metro are going the opposite direction in trying to add "traffic calming" measures to Coors in order to make it more "pedestrian and bike friendly." Never mind the miles-long backups each afternoon that extend out onto I-40 going over the Rio Grande.

[US 89]

Coors should have been a freeway or at least had right of way reserved for one. But despite the new overpowered interchange at I-40, that ship sailed a long time ago.

Especially for the stretch between I-40 and Cottonwood Mall. But...progressive thinking defies logic and the powers that be in the Albuquerque metro are going the opposite direction in trying to add "traffic calming" measures to Coors in order to make it more "pedestrian and bike friendly." Never mind the miles-long backups each afternoon that extend out onto I-40 going over the Rio Grande.

That logic is valid for downtown city streets and occasionally for some of the bigger collector roads that connect neighborhoods to each other and to the rest of a city. Coors is a 4 to 6 lane highway. Also, Coors and Unser are the only two through north-south roads west of the river (and Unser is too far west to be of much use for a good chunk of the population over there)

[sprjus4]

Coors should have been a freeway or at least had right of way reserved for one. But despite the new overpowered interchange at I-25, that ship sailed a long time ago.

I'm assuming you meant I-40 for this?

[US 89]

Coors should have been a freeway or at least had right of way reserved for one. But despite the new overpowered interchange at I-25, that ship sailed a long time ago.

I'm assuming you meant I-40 for this?

Heh yep. Fixed.

[DJStephens]

If I'm not mistaken, I think I remember reading somewhere that the original alignment of I-25 was intended to be on the west side of ABQ (like where Coors Blvd. runs) with NM 422 being be a local route.  But instead, 422 became the alignment for I-25.

That would have made sense, given the wide ROW that Coors occupies north of I-40, and the sudden jog west across the Rio Grande that I-25 makes near the Isleta Casino south of Albuquerque.

If I-25 had continued straight S, at the Broadway/Isleta Casino Exit 215, Rio Communities would have become the Las Lunas of today.   Am sure some tribal politics got that routing we have today, believe it was finally finished in the early eighties.   

[DJStephens]

Coors should have been a freeway or at least had right of way reserved for one. But despite the new overpowered interchange at I-25, that ship sailed a long time ago.

I'm assuming you meant I-40 for this?

The "original" 1961 I-40 / Coors interchange had hints of a piece of a possible future beltway.   But lack of foresight, and coherent planning scuttled that.   The Tramway "super two overpass" over Edith and the ATSF/BNSF tracks also were a possible piece of a beltway that never materialized.   

[abqtraveler]

Coors should have been a freeway or at least had right of way reserved for one. But despite the new overpowered interchange at I-25, that ship sailed a long time ago.

I'm assuming you meant I-40 for this?

The "original" 1961 I-40 / Coors interchange had hints of a piece of a possible future beltway.   But lack of foresight, and coherent planning scuttled that.   The Tramway "super two overpass" over Edith and the ATSF/BNSF tracks also were a possible piece of a beltway that never materialized.

Multiple concepts for a beltway around Albuquerque were presented from the late 1960s through the present. The first on in 1969 envisioned a beltway that started at I-25 near the Isleta Casino, headed northeast through what is now Mesa Del Sol and the back part of Kirtland Air Force Base to I-40 near Tramway or Juan Tabo. It would have then followed Tramway or Juan Tabo to Paseo Del Norte, then followed PDN westward across the Rio Grande to Paseo Del Volcan (now Atrisco Vista), then south on PDV, past I-40 to Dennis Chavez, then continuing southeast to a new interchange with I-25 west of the bridge over the Rio Grande. I believe the freeway portion of PDN was intended to be part of this beltway, that was never completed.

A second concept emerged in the late 1980s. Like the previous concept, the north and east legs would have followed either Juan Tabo or Tramway and PDN, but it would then turn south at Unser, then follow Unser to Gibson. It would then follow Gibson, over a new bridge across the Rio Grande, past I-25 to Louisiana, then on new location along the northern edge of Kirtland AFB to the Eubank/Southern intersection, then follow Southern and Juan Tabo to I-40.

The current concept is much scaled back from the previous two:  a mostly new location highway starting at US-550 west of the NM-528 intersection in Rio Rancho that proceeded south and west through Rio Rancho, then south to I-40, about 2 miles west of the Atrisco Vista exit at t the top of Nine Mile Hill. The proposed route is referred to as Paseo Dal Volcan, and the completed section (Phase 1) from US-550 to Unser Blvd in Rio Rancho carries the designation of NM-347. The ROW is 300 feet wide, to accommodate a full freeway buildout, but it likely be a very long time before the initial 2-lane buildout to I-40 is completed, let alone expansion to a full freeway.

[US 89]

This concept map was published in the Albuquerque Journal in 1989:



The Tramway bridge over Edith was built with future expansion in mind (see streetview) - but it seems to me it's more there as a side benefit of grade separating the railroad crossing than it is an indicator of a never-built freeway. Railroad crossing grade separations are always a good idea even with roads that aren't necessarily freeways, as trains can be very long and block crossings for 10-15 minutes or more. Especially in a place like Albuquerque, which has very few grade separated crossings and most of them are in or near downtown. Unless I'm forgetting one, the only ones are at Tramway, Paseo, I-40, Marquette/Tijeras, Central, Lead/Coal, and Cesar Chavez.

[abqtraveler]

This concept map was published in the Albuquerque Journal in 1989:



The Tramway bridge over Edith was built with future expansion in mind (see streetview) - but it seems to me it's more there as a side benefit of grade separating the railroad crossing than it is an indicator of a never-built freeway. Railroad crossing grade separations are always a good idea even with roads that aren't necessarily freeways, as trains can be very long and block crossings for 10-15 minutes or more. Especially in a place like Albuquerque, which has very few grade separated crossings and most of them are in or near downtown. Unless I'm forgetting one, the only ones are at Tramway, Paseo, I-40, Marquette/Tijeras, Central, Lead/Coal, and Cesar Chavez.

The urban legend here in Albuquerque is that Tramway was planned to continue across the Rio Grande to Corrales and ultimately Highway 528 in Rio Rancho, but NMDOT dropped those plans for the bridge across the Rio Grande when a powerful state senator who lived in Corrales threatened to pull all funding for the state DOT had they moved forward with building the bridge.  As the saying goes, "Money talks...," and we all know the rest of that punchline.