Road Warrior: Redesign, water line delayed West Side Paseo widening

James Crane wants to know the ETA on Paseo del Norte construction between Eagle Ranch and Richland Hills.

“Seems like it’s been going on for more than a year,” Crane said. “What’s the holdup?”

Construction on the petroglyphs-adjacent project started last fall, said Trula Howe, vice president of administration at Custom Grading Inc., a local contractor that does asphalt paving, demolition and site development.

The project will widen Paseo on the north side and add west- and east-bound turn lanes. CGI is also installing new fiber and lighting along Paseo, as well as updating the traffic signal.

Some of that work has already been completed.

“Most of the fiber and street lighting have already been completed,” Howe said. “We are focusing on asphalt pavement now.”

But the project hit a few snags. An unmarked waterline was struck, Howe said in an email to the Journal, requiring road and utility repairs that set the project back weeks.

Perhaps more impactful was a required redesign of the traffic signals. That included a redesign of the mast arm location “due to conflicting utilities in the footprint,” Howe said.

That redesign had to get approval from the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the city of Albuquerque, Howe said. On Thursday, the new design was approved.

In the coming weeks, CGI hopes to fully pave the north side of Paseo, Howe said. One lane should be closed temporarily. After that piece is complete, two lanes should be open for the duration of the paving.

The asphalt paving should be done by this fall, Howe said, and the project will wrap up once the mast arm arrives.

RAINBOW REROUTE: Construction on a new transmission line on a stretch of Paseo on the West Side will close down part of Rainbow this week.

The two northbound lanes will be closed from Heathstone to Paseo starting Monday. The closure is expected to last five days.

Traffic will shift to the southbound lanes. One lane will remain open in either direction.

The project started last month. The transmission line will be added to the eastbound shoulder of Paseo between Rainbow and Universe. Construction is expected to end next spring.