(Press Staff Photo by Geoffrey Plant)
Bradley Gutierrez, traffic control supervisor for James Hamilton Construction, said the road project that got underway in front of Silver City Walmart last week will take about 130 days to complete and see the Walmart traffic light moved several hundred yards to the east, drainage, curbs and sidewalks added to U.S. 180 from Rosedale Road to the 32nd Street Bypass, as well as a “redo” of the frontage road on the south side of the highway. “It backs up pretty bad at lunch hour and quitting time,” since traffic is now reduced to one lane in each direction, Gutierrez said, adding, “it’s my job to try and keep everybody safe.”
WESTSIDE GOING FOUR LANES IN 2021:
Randall Sever asks by email, “Has there been any consideration of improving Westside Boulevard between Golf Course Road and N.M. 528? I understand this is Sandoval/Bernalillo, Rio Rancho/Albuquerque owned/maintained, but it is a busy thoroughfare throughout the day and a bottleneck often. … Will this ever get improved by expanding to four lanes?”
And L. Thornburg emails, “Several years ago I saw signs on Westside regarding upcoming work to, at last, complete expansion to four lanes from just west of N.M. 528 to Golf Course. That has never happened, and we all still play ‘ace out’ to keep the left-lane line jumpers from getting in front when traveling east on Westside at Golf Course – because nobody really believes the zipper (merge) works in Albuquerque.