Village of Los Ranchos prepares for second phase of street improvement project

BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s a project working to slow down speeding drivers and make for safer walking in the North Valley. Now, Los Ranchos is readying the start of its next big phase which is overhauling Fourth Street.

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Round one of the project finished about two years ago adding sidewalks and cutting driving lanes. Now, small businesses are getting ready to see that work extended another half-mile after decades of safety concerns. “There is no sidewalk and you can see how close the traffic is to the unimproved shoulder,” said María Rinaldi, Consulting 4th Street Project Manager.  “This has actually been the site of numerous accidents including one fatality.”

A lack of street lighting and out-of-date pedestrian crossings are just some of the problems the village wants addressed. “It was a roadway for roadway use only. There were no sidewalks, no stormwater drainage, no bicycle amenities, and the determination was made to improve this for all users of the corridor,” said Rinaldi.

Now they’re closer than ever to making changes with the next phase of the Fourth Street Improvement Project . By next year, the village aims to narrow the road to one lane in each direction with a center turning lane between Pueblo Solano and Ranchitos Road.

The project will also add sidewalks, a multi-use trail for bikes, several new crosswalks, and storm drains. The upgrades continue the work done in phase one of the project, north of Osuna, where some businesses say there have been drastic improvements. “There was a lot more traffic and again the street was right up against the gravel on which you walked on so there wasn’t really no, there was no space for walking and bicycling and stuff like that so this is a thousand times better,” said Jovee, employee at Los Ranchos Bakery.

The Village held an open house on the project on Tuesday at the “Fourth Street Project Office,” along with another planned for Wednesday. Final design of the project could be approved in a board meeting next week. The Village is hoping to put the $25 million project out to bid next September. Construction will take at least a year and a half.

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