ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – From north to south, Bernalillo County is asking for more than $17 million to help fund at least a dozen road improvement projects. One big item is $1.2 million requested to help with the Bridge Boulevard expansion.
“Bridge Boulevard was the first constructed river crossing in the region and the original Route 66,” said Brian Lopez, Technical Services Director with the county. “With it being now one of the eight river crossings in the area, the intent of this project was to kind of update it, increase the multi-modal access of the corridor, and in addition try to improve the traffic flow along the corridor.”
Phase one was completed last year. Phase two will cost about $9 million. It is fully funded and ready to get underway. Phase three will tackle the boulevard from Yura Place to Young Avenue.
“Nearby residents will be able to benefit by having ADA-compliant sidewalks constructed with this project, buffered bike lanes,” said Lopez.
Another big ticket item is to continue the Atrisco Vista expansion, from Double Eagle to Paseo Del Norte. “The road that’s out there right now is kind of a rural older section of road, some steep shoulders and a lot of curves on it. So, the work we’re going to do is straighten that out…expand the road easily to a four-lane facility,” said Elias Archuleta, Deputy County Manager for Public Works.
The county is requesting $5 million to help fund the about $11.8 million project. The county said the project is needed to keep up with the growing area.
“There’s an industrial park there that consists of Tempurpedic, Shamrock Foods, and then with Amazon coming in with their fulfillment center and their distribution center, we’re starting to see more interest in additional business coming along,” said Archuleta.
While the county has support of area representatives, he said they won’t know how all the funding requests will shake out until near the end of the session. “We have a reasonable expectation that we’ll get some, whether we get the full $5 million is the question,” he said.
