The city of Albuquerque plans to construct a new West Side maintenance facility to be located at the Cerro Colorado Landfill, which officials said will decentralize the city’s solid waste collection operations.
The new $1.5 million maintenance and dispatch facility will contain two bays, and landfill mechanics will service the trucks for routine maintenance and minor repairs.
Mayor Tim Keller said decentralizing the Solid Waste Management Department’s collection operations would reduce the city’s carbon footprint by reducing fuel use of trucks on the highway and provide accommodations for drivers and trucks serving the West Side.
“Essentially one-third of our population, and therefore one-third of our waste, comes from the West Side of Albuquerque, yet we have trucks that are driving into the central part of Albuquerque, then driving back out to the West Side, then driving to the dump out here, then coming back,” Keller said. “A third of that can be solved by housing those folks here.”
Decentralizing operations by expanding the West Side facility will also help prepare for future growth on the West Side and restructure the collection routes to maximize service capacity, he said.
Plans also call for the West Side collection fleet to park overnight at the Cerro Colorado Landfill, which will eliminate the longer drive time to the department’s facility at Edith and Griegos. Drivers for these routes will start and end their work day at the landfill. The new maintenance facility includes a space for drivers with lockers and a break room.
“The new West Side maintenance facility will save valuable time and resources for our staff and the city as a whole,” Solid Waste Management Director Matthew Whelan said. “The new maintenance facility will also have state-of-the-art design and will be a value add to the Cerro Colorado Landfill and our West Side operations.”
A groundbreaking date for construction of the facility has yet to be determined, Whelan said.
The Keller administration made an announcement last December that the 4600 Edith NE location would no longer serve as a proposed transfer station. Plans for a scaled-down transfer station in the city’s east side are still under consideration.
