La Bajada construction project to wrap up early and under budget

SANTA FE COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) – Good news for drivers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe: the miles-long construction project on I-25 on La Bajada Hill is wrapping up early, and under budget. News 13 spoke with the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) and the contractors on the project to get the details.

“As many drivers may have noticed over the past decade or two, going up and down that hill you know not a very smooth ride with bumps and you can see where portions of the roadway looked like it was sagging,” said Rob Gross, project manager and estimator with Mountain States Constructors, Inc., which is the company handling the construction project on La Bajada hill.

Drivers commuting between Albuquerque and Santa Fe know well the congestion and delays that came as a result of construction there. “It’s approximately two miles. We had more of it closed off than was necessary, just to provide a safe working environment for the contractor but it went from the Cochiti exit all the way up the hill to the Waldo exit,” said James Murray, public information officer for NMDOT.

The $40 million project started in July of 2022 mainly targeting problems you couldn’t see from your windshield. “The project entailed repaving and basically rebuilding the entire roadway from the ground up,” Murray said.

“They stripped everything away and they reinforced and re-stabilized the hillside. It was starting to crumble after all this time,” Murray explained.

Mountain States Constructors, Inc., says they used a new process to stabilize the hill, which included putting concrete-filled shafts into the hill. “The NMDOT designed basically a stabilization process for the embankment underneath the roadway surface to basically produce columns that are cement-filled and mixed with the existing embankment and then penetrating into the actual mountain surface existing below the embankment fill that happened in the 1950s when that roadway was built,” Gross said.

They also revamped the Cochiti exit and on-ramps and widened the shoulders. “People will remember, it was pretty narrow if you had engine problems or car problems it was a little scary to get out along that hill. But now, the shoulders are much wider,” Murray said. He says the last time the road there was widened was in the 1980’s.

The route will feature three lanes uphill and two lanes downhill: “Having that extra lane going up the hill for the slower vehicles, you know, that’s been sorely missed I’m told,” Murray said.

“There’s lots done underground: all new drainage was put in place, and there’s also fiber optics down there so that we can install more cameras and better cameras in the future you know so people can see up to the second traffic and weather info there on the hill,” Murray said.

All of this is coming sooner than expected. “We’re coming in under time and under budget,” Gross said.

Originally scheduled to wrap up in the fall or winter of this year, now officials say it will be done in May or early June; and, roughly $2 million under budget.

“I gotta give a lot of credit to the guys in the field that are actually doing the work,” Gross said, “This will hopefully provide a safer route, less accidents, which will ultimately cut down on travel time.”

Gross says anywhere from 20 to 40 of his workers would be on-site at any given time fixing the road, and Murray says up to ten workers from NMDOT would be on site as well.

Since construction started roughly two years ago, New Mexico State Police tell News 13: 2,127 citations were given in that area, and 23 crashes occurred.

NMDOT wants drivers to be aware they are shifting the traffic pattern on Saturday, April 6 between 9:00 am and 10:00 am as the project enters its final phases.

All northbound traffic will be shifted to the new permanent northbound lanes, and southbound traffic will shift to the current northbound detour lanes as crews work to fix the guardrails.

The speed limit will remain 55 miles per hour until the project is completely finished; then, it will go back to 75 miles per hour through the area.

“This one, it was pretty straightforward and the contractor really did a fantastic job and they stuck to their timelines. They worked weekends when they felt they needed to and all in all, it’s a very successful project,” Murray said.

NMDOT reminds motorists to obey the speed limit, be aware of the surroundings, and watch out for crews as this project continues.