A public open house Tuesday night concerning where to build a new interchange and bridge near Los Lunas gave locals a chance to weigh two options still under consideration in an 18-month study of the issue.

The study is sponsored by the Village of Los Lunas and has been run by D. Pennington & Associates and the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG). It’s goal is to determine the best solution to traffic congestion on Main Street in Los Lunas.

The remaining options in the study are shown separately in MRCOG documents as S1, S2 and S5. While shown as three, they really amount to only two options: an interchange and roadway at Morris Road immediately south of Los Lunas or an interchange and roadway at Miller Road, just north of Los Chavez.

Interchange and bridge study alignments.

S1 and S2 are almost the same, with the differences being the location of the interchange and how close the new roadway gets to Miller Road. With S1, the new roadway runs almost adjacent to Miller Road. With S2, the new roadway makes use of an existing state road at the southern end of the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility and then tracks south toward Miller Road.

S1 and S2 are controversial for their close proximity to Los Chavez and, as they cross the Rio Grande, because they drop traffic on Highway 47 near northern Tome.

S5 wouldn’t create a new roadway between Interstate 25 and the Rio Grande, instead using Morris Road. S5 is controversial because, after crossing the Rio Grande, the road could dump traffic on Highway 47 anywhere between south and north El Cerro Loop.

Residents of El Cerro, who formed a neighborhood association, are battling hard against a new roadway in their area and turned out in force at Tuesday’s open house to make their opinions known.

As the study has moved along, some county residents are advocating the “no build” option, which means they want no new interchange or bridge, suggesting improvements to existing roadways and sustainable growth policies could ease traffic congestion.

Many people advocating for a new interchange and bridge, however, express concern about long-term congestion on Main Street in Los Lunas, particularly if the county’s population continues to increase. According to MRCOG, the county’s population has more than doubled since the mid-1980s.

The study’s purpose is to assess all possible routes and settle on a recommendation for the Village of Los Lunas and Valencia County, the two governments that will make a decision on the final route. The study itself has another nine to 12 months before it’s completed.

This page was published on January 28, 2010 at 12:36am and is filed under Infrastructure.