A construction project on the Santa Ana Pueblo is being billed as an all-around improvement.
The Pueblo and the New Mexico Department of Transportation have announced the start of the upgrade of the intersection of State Route 313 and Dove Road. The $2.4 million project, officials say, will improve motorist and pedestrian safety and enhance traffic flow in the area.
Mo Moabed, the transportation department’s deputy cabinet secretary for highway operations, joined Santa Ana Pueblo Gov. Myron Armijo and interim Lt. Gov. Joe Montoya last week for a groundbreaking ceremony at the intersection.
Dove Road travels from the highway to the Pueblo’s administration hub. Tribal officials last summer took a traffic count at the intersection, Armijo said, and tallied 75 vehicles passing in a 20-minute stretch.
“They weren’t slow, either,” he said. “Some of them were going 50, 60 miles an hour.”
He said tribal authorities had been advocating for the project for many years.
The work will include the creation of new merge and left-turn lanes, as well as traffic lights, and changes designed to improve visibility.
Moabed noted New Mexico’s “high” rank among U.S. states for fatal vehicle crash rates and said the project is one of the steps being taken to get those figures down.
“We value our partnership with the Pueblo leadership in moving this project forward,” he said, calling the collaboration a model for future state-tribal relations.
Lenea Corp. is the contractor on the project. Senior project manager Tara Chief told the Sandoval Signpost the job should be completed by fall.
Chief said there will be road closures associated with the work, and that travelers will be notified ahead of time of the detours.
She said the company will also provide weekly briefings detailing the progress made on the project.