Construction starts at problematic Central Ave. bridge underpass
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It's been on pause for around a year, but the city is finally restarting work, fixing one of the most notorious stretches of sidewalk in Albuquerque.
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It's been around for almost 100 years, but these days, not a lot of people dare to walk under the railroad tracks on Central Ave. because of problems with campers, drug use, and vandalism. The revamp to fix that is now kicking into high gear. The first step in fixing the downtown portion of the ongoing 'Rail Trail' project is to replace the Central Ave. underpass with a new pedestrian bridge and crossing ramps.
'People for years have crossed at an underpass there, or maybe you've ridden your car under the bridge. We'll now have two ramps that take you up and over that bridge area,' said Terry Brunner, Director of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency.
On Friday, crews started removing unused railroad tracks at the Central Ave. crossing, where eventually people will be able to walk over. In the coming weeks, they'll pour concrete to form a new 18 to 22-foot-wide ramp up to the bridge, alongside the Alvarado bus station. The updates also include an interactive 'Neon Tumbleweed' art piece that lights up at night.'It's going to provide a lot of very interesting shadowing images, and like I said, we would have images on the pavement that people can ride their bike over, they'll be able to ride and walk through the middle of the sculpture,' said Brunner.
Albuquerque City Councilor Joaquín Baca said the project is a big deal. 'Whether you know it's people walking between businesses, between hotels, whether it's people biking across connected to the rail trails or other bike trails. Just general business being able to walk back and forth, it's going to have a huge, huge impact,' said Baca.
Some people at the station on Friday said they're also excited for the change, saying the old underpass was not ideal. 'Because it's really hard right now to get to it, you only have one area to get here. If they open up the bridge over here, it's going to give us more access,' said Danny Hardage, train rider.
'Very dangerous down there because there was homeless people staying under there, and at night you didn't know who you were going to run into,' said Matthew Cordova, train rider.
The city said the project is estimated to cost between $16 and $18 million. That money is a combination of city and state funding. ABQ Ride said the construction work will also impact at least three of their routes along Central and First Street, starting the week of May 19. To see what routes will be impacted, you can visit their website.
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