The
US 84/285 highway corridor is a heavily traveled roadway
that carries 40,000 vehicles
each day. It is the only major highway located within the
north-central region of New Mexico, providing critical access
between the capital city of Santa Fe and several northern
municipalities, Native American pueblos, and the world renowned
institutions of Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Santa
Fe Opera. In the early 1990’s, US 84/285 was named
as one of the 10 most dangerous highways in the nation. Growing
safety concerns coupled with an expected doubling of traffic
on the highway over the next 20 years moved officials to
identify and allocate funding for a project to improve the
facility.
The renovation
of US 84/285 required the design and construction of an
extensive system of interchanges and frontage roads,
completely transforming the existing roadway into a safe
and modern transportation facility that also respected the
unique cultural diversity of the stakeholders along the roadway.
The true engineering and environmental challenge was in finding
innovative ways to build the new facility within a very unique
and “culturally complex” environment. To expedite
the design and construction process, the 14-mile corridor
was divided into three sections, and some of the state’s
top engineers were hired to design each section. The southern
section extends from NM 599 in Santa Fe to the South Tesuque
Pueblo Boundary (also includes Rio Tesuque Bridge reconstruction);
the middle section extends from the South Tesuque Pueblo
Boundary to the North Tesuque Pueblo Boundary; and the northern
section ranges from the North Tesuque Pueblo Boundary to
County Road 89D in Pojoaque. This approach allowed construction
to begin much sooner—and consequently end much sooner—than
if one firm designed the entire corridor.
In addition to the strategy to enhance the visual cultural
aspects of the project with artwork, team members worked
diligently to find innovative ways to decrease the impact
of construction on the natural environment and to preserve
and protect valuable resources already existing within the
corridor. All disturbed areas were re-planted with native
plants when construction was completed. The US 84/285 project
was completed and ready for use in June 2005
|
