New Mexico Department of Transportation celebrates La Bajada construction completion

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A long-running project that has been a headache for drivers between Albuquerque and Santa Fe wrapped up ahead of schedule. Tuesday, state and local officials cut the ribbon on the multi-million-dollar road construction.

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In years past, the road up to La Bajada Hill made for a bumpy ride. After major construction over the last two years, drivers will experience much smoother conditions. “This road is traveled by 35,000 cars in a single day,” said Ricky Serna, Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Department of Transportation.

It’s been a long time coming, with plenty of bumps in the road for the project, to revamp a busy stretch of I-25 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. “The issue with La Bajada, which prompted the construction here of course was the slopes on the roads of the southbound lanes on that side of the interstate,” said Serna.

The road instability was caused by a water table underneath La Bajada Hill. In 2022, the New Mexico Department of Transportation and other collaborators launched the $40 million construction project. The new additions included systems to monitor the ground and effective drainage systems meant to bring stability to the road.

“I first got here, and I said, ‘It looks like you guys build things,’ and they all turned and pointed to that road and said, ‘We built that road,” said Jim Garcia, Executive Director of Associated Contractors of New Mexico.

A road, that NMDOT implemented a new design for. It included 800 ten-foot-wide concrete columns and gave new life to 5,800 feet of highway.

Tuesday, for the first time in two years, traffic was flowing normally along that stretch. Crews also added room for a southbound third lane to be put in, sometime in the future.

“This highway has seen a ton of improvements and safety investments. But I don’t think many New Mexicans understand that the stability issue was so critical,” said New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.

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