Road Warrior: Bumpy ride to VA hospital; how much would it cost to repave the city

For the past two years, it’s been a bumpy ride for Fred Aragon — literally.

Aragon first called then-Road Warrior D’Val Westphal in April 2022 about the drive to the VA Hospital. The stretch of San Mateo from Kathryn to Gibson had grown rough with disrepair, Aragon said.

The next summer, Aragon called again. At the time, city spokespeople said a rehab for the road was scheduled for summer 2023.

But the road hasn’t been repaired, Aragon said when he called me recently.

Hopefully, that will change soon. Dan Mayfield, spokesperson for the Department of Municipal Development, said the road is now scheduled to be rehabbed this summer. That coincides with the start of construction on the Albuquerque Community Safety headquarters at Kathryn and San Mateo.

IT PAYS TO BE PAVED: It’s not often that my day job as a City Hall reporter crosses over with my Road Warrior duties.

But the stars aligned as one of my favorite road subjects — road resurfacing — surfaced at the City Council meeting.

Councilor Renee Grout asked a simple question: How much would it cost for the city to resurface every road?

The answer: a lot. The city manages around 4,600 lane miles, city officials said on Wednesday. Depending on the condition, roads could be rehabilitated using several different methods. The most expensive and intensive of those costs between $300,000 and $500,000 per mile.

That could bring the total cost (albeit on the high end) to between $1.3 billion and $2.3 billion. For a sense of scale, the city’s entire proposed budget for this year totals $1.4 billion.

Every year, the city repaves around 200, or about 4%, of those 4,600 miles, said former Department of Municipal Development director and current Chief Operations Officer Pat Montoya.

But how does the department decide which roads merit repaving?

A survey is conducted in which road conditions are rated as excellent, good or poor. From there, Montoya said, the roads in the poorest conditions are targeted. The department tries to be equitable between council districts, he continued.

THAT’S A WRAP: The city recently concluded a $6 million project on Central from 90th to Unser. In addition to newly repaved westbound lanes, there’s a new bike lane, frontage road and lighting. This fall, the next phase of the project, which stretches from 90th to 98th, will begin.