Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 19

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL THURSDAY DECEMBER Opening Won't Put an End to Commuter Obstacles; By Johanna King Street. They may continue south along Second, navigating through the construe-, tion along a dirt detour; they may turi, north to Alameda and then east to 1-25; 0 they may take El Pueblo to Fourth Street Edith Boulevard or 1-25. Highway Department officials say that within two weeks of the Paseo del Norte opening, the novelty of the new bridge wili-wear off and traffic patterns should estab" lish themselves as people find their mosf reasonable route. That could mean con-, tinuing to travel across the Corrales Bridge. The department hopes the Paseo del Norte Bridge initially will accommodate about half of the 23,000 vehicles that now -i travel across the Corrales river crossing each day.

The first phase runs between Eagle Ranch Road in Paradise Hills and Second Street. The 5-mile highway to 1-25 is expected to. carry about 39,000 vehicles a day by the turn of the century. Paseo del Norte will eventually connect to 1-25 and Second Street will be widened to four lanes. But until those projects are completed, probably some time next summer, bottlenecks are almost guaranteed.

Eagle Ranch Road, a two-lane, paved street connecting Paseo del Norte and Paradise Boulevard, will save area resi- dents a roundabout trip to Coors for highway access. Contractors were scheduled to have work completed on Eagle Ranch for today's bridge opening. The only on- and off-ramps to Paseo del Norte between Coors and 1-25 will be at Second Street, providing downtown access, and at Jefferson, access lanes that won't be completed until next summer. JOURNAL STAFF WRITER T'LL BE ANOTHER six months before West Side commuters can venture across the Rio Grande with-, out confronting orange barrels and slow-moving traffic. long-awaited Paseo del Norte bridge will finally open today.

But the new six-lane river crossing will unload all of its east-bound traffic onto two-lane Second Street, which is being torn up for construction. Drivers who try to avoid the hassle by way of 1-40 will run into more delays this spring when the state Highway Department begins a resurfacing project from Coors Boulevard to the Big I. Moore, a Highway Department engineer, said the 1-40 project prompted officials to open the Paseo del Norte bridge thjs month, even though the new route won't be completed to 1-25 until next summer. "We hope that by going ahead and opening Paseo prior to doing that 1-40 job, we'll help alleviate some of the pain," he said. Eleven bridges on east and westbound 1-40 will be rehabilitated.

"The bridges are in very bad condition," Moore said. "They're going to have to go through one more winter this one and we certainly can't afford to go through another winter." The $6 million resurfacing project is long overdue, Moore said. The freeway bridges have not been rehabilitated since they were built more than 20 years ago. The project will take about 10 months. The good news, Moore said, is that it is the AW A II I 1 I Paseo del Norte Gibson Paradise Hills Access to Paseo del Norte last of several 1-40 resurfacing projects that began nearly five years ago.

But that may not be much consolation to drivers forced to maneuver in and out of orange barrels. "It (the construction) does terrible things Unser, and about a mile of Unser across the escarpment. 4.7 miles of Paseo del Norte east of 1-25 to Tramway. 1.6 miles of Unser south to Gibson and west to Central. 12 miles of Gibson linking Unser to Juan Tabo and 140.

A four-mile stretch of Gibson between 1-25 and Louisiana is completed, but the city plans to eliminate some of the access to speed up traffic flow. New Mexico received around $100 million in federal highway funding this year, but only $2 million was designated for Albuquerque. The present federal Surface Transportation Assistance Act channels money into construction of interstate highways. Since there's no plans for putting another interstate through Albuquerque, the city only gets dribbles from the funding stream. Metropolitan areas, such as Albuquerque, are lobbying nationwide for a shift in funding emphasis when the new federal transportaion act goes into effect in 1990.

Larranaga is optimistic that the new act will give bulk sums to the states, which in turn would allow local governments to use the money for projects such as beltways. There's also been discussion of a 38-mile- lP3 I -rrr, '-'itT I 1 1 "rr i iff '3 --taufwi. Paseo del Norte Bridge is part of planned 40-mile-long beltway to relieve interstates. City Strives To Avert Big I 'Curse' Paseo del Norte in Beltway Plan To Route Traffic Around Busy Junction JOURNAL MAP CAROL COOPERRIDER where rush-hour traffic sometimes backs up more than a mile. Those who opt to take the Paseo del Norte route will be faced with a number of choices although none that can guarantee swiftness once they reach Second transportation planners say it could one day be upgraded to a freeway.

The city is expecting to get around $9 million from the state to help extend Unser, Larranaga said. In exchange, he said the city will take over the maintenance of Fourth Street, which was a state highway. Meador only sees one rough patch in the city's beltway plan the Gibson extension that would provide another river crossing. "The stretch of Gibson west of the river would pass through about 100 established Paseo del Nortei jjprMxmsMX 4renal RioBravoJ I 111 NORTHWEST LOOP if Northern jf Southern uu I Paseo del Proposed I maris 2 a to traffic because we have to close lanes around the clock," Moore said. The department said another reason it plans to open the completed portion of the Paseo del Norte expansion is to provide relief for the two-lane Corrales Bridge, JOURNAL PHOTO DEAN HANSON long Northwest Loop.

The highway would run from 1-40 a mile east of the Rio Puerco trading post, north up the Rio Puerco valley, and then east to the intersection of NM 528 and NM 44 near Bernalillo. Since 40 percent of people traveling in New Mexico pass through Albuquerque, Larranaga thinks the city should get a proportionate slice of the funding pie. "If the money started flowing from the federal government and the state, we could complete the beltway in three years," Larranaga said. "Until we start getting that money, the helping hand is going to be at the end of our own sleeve." Like most remedies, the bridge is expected to have some unpleasant short-term side effects. Although the city can't expect additional federal aid until 1990, Transportation Division head George Meador said opening the bridge will increase pressure to complete the Paseo del Norte and Unser extensions.

"The bridge is going to break the barrier for the growth of business on the west side of the river that will attract people from the east," Larranaga said. "The traffic generated in both directions across the bridge will put pressure on us to upgrade the system on the west." The city is already into the public hearing phase of a plan to upgrade Paseo del Norte between 1-25 and Tramway from a two-lane rural roadway to a six- and four-lane divided arterial. The city and Bernalillo County would split the tab for the $35 million project, with construction targeted to begin by July 1993. Paseo del Norte and the other beltway legs are expected to carry 40,000 vehicles a day by the year 2010, according to a Middle Rio Grande Council of Governments' study. That's approximately the traffic Montgomery Boulevard carries today.

Paseo del Norte Bridge is expected to carry 59,000 vehicles daily by 2010, a figure Meador said would be much more than that of any other crossing with the exception of an 140 bridge upgraded to eight lanes. Since Paseo del Norte is currently Albuquerque's only designated east-west limited access arterial north of 140, city Existing River Crossings Proposed River Crossings JOURNAL MAP CAROL COOPERRIDER JOURNAL MAP CAROL COOPERRIDER ROADV yBernalilo Wtl Blvd. Rancho Blvd. Corrales I Paradise Norte I By Jim Martin JOURNAL STAFF WRITER CITY HALL'S transportation wizard hopes the Paseo del Norte Bridge will help him lift a "curse." "The Big I was a blessing for more than 20 years, because it let people drive anywhere in town they wanted to in less than 20 minutes," said Larry Larranaga, the former state highway director who is now one of the mayor's top aides. "As we get to the point where no more traffic can be channeled through the Big that blessing is going to turn into a curse," Larranaga warned.

Traffic flow through the Big I already cufdles at peak periods, according to a recently completed interstate highway access study. "Unless we want the interstates to become free parking lots," Larranaga said, "we have to find another way to move traffic around the city." Larranaga sees salvation in a 40-mile-long beltway or loop system that would circulate traffic around the city and help unclog the Big where 140 and 1-25 cross. Opening the bridge and extending Paseo deUNorte will forge the northern leg of the beltway system. Extensions of Unser Boulevard on the west, Gibson Boulevard on the south and Tramway Boulevard on the east would complete the beltway. Motorists coming from Santa Fe or Belen could exit 1-25 before reaching the Big I bottleneck and travel on multi-lane arte-rials with minimal stops for traffic signals.

More than half of the beltway 21 miles is already completed or scheduled to be opened by the end of next year, but Larranaga said it will take another 10 to 15 years to finish the system unless the federal government changes its formula for funding. A' report Larranaga gave to the City Council last spring estimated it will cost $172 million to close the following gaps in the beltway system: A mile of Paseo del Norte west to 1968 1977 1986 2010 Corrales 6,000 18,500 28,300 33,000 MO 7,300 38,947 67,000 104,500 Central 31,840 32,300 44,100 39,000 Bridge 20,400 27,800 33,200 26,000 Rio Bravo 6,400 17,600 24,900 31,000 Montano 17,000 Gibson" 34,600 Paseo 59,000 del Norte protected "Completion in 2-3 years "'Completion in 15 years developments," said Meador, who fears' some legal tussles when it comes to acquirC! ing right of way. The potential problems could have beei: avoided if Albuquerque's past leaders en; visioned a loop system and acquired righu' of way before development popped up in itsT path. "The interstates were expected to take-; care of everyone's needs for a long Larranaga said, "so nobody bothered ta! look beyond." Source: City Transportation Division, Regional Council of Governments Figures shown are for round-trips. Those for the year 2010 are based on the widening of Corrales Bridge from two to four lanes, 1-40 from six to eight lanes, and Rio Bravo from four to six lanes.

As for the new bridges, Montano would have two lanes and Gibson six lanes. Bridge would remain four lanes, and Paseo and Central six lanes..