Orange barrels ahead: major Spruce project starts Monday

For weeks, the signs have been hard to miss.

Electronic message boards around the Spruce Avenue intersections with Telshor Boulevard and Triviz Drive have warned drivers that construction is coming and given them a date: Sept. 21. What's been less obvious is exactly what is coming, and what it will mean for the thousands of drivers who use the corridor beneath Interstate 25.

Beginning Monday, they'll start finding out.

The City of Las Cruces will begin a major reconstruction project encompassing the intersections on both sides of I-25, bringing months of orange barrels, narrowed lanes and occasional detours to one of the city's busiest connections. Traffic will continue moving through the area during most of the work. But it won't always move quickly.

"If we saw problems before with traffic congestion, just think of that double," one city official said.

The payoff, city officials say, should be a corridor that moves traffic more efficiently while also making travel safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. Construction is expected to take 180 working days, putting completion sometime next summer if weather and other delays don't push the schedule back. During that time, drivers can expect changing lane configurations as crews move through different phases of the project, along with several shorter periods when particular movements through the intersections will be closed completely.

Interim Public Works Director Jimmy Moreno, Project Manager Eric Chavez, Senior Engineer Vanessa Morales-Romero and Construction Management Administrator Will Bass met with the Bulletin ahead of Monday's start to explain what drivers can expect — both during construction and when it's finished.

The project encompasses Spruce between Telshor and Triviz, as well as portions of both intersections. Work will include new and upgraded traffic signals, sidewalks and ADA ramps, striping, medians, curbing, street lighting and other roadway improvements. There will be no construction on the I-25 bridge itself.

The first phase will affect Triviz and Spruce, where drivers will begin seeing traffic-control devices and lane reductions. Traffic will generally remain open, but lanes will be dropped as crews work on different corners of the intersection.

For drivers who don't need to pass through the area, the city's advice is simple: avoid it when possible. For everyone else, allow more time.

There will also be several periods during the project when particular movements through the intersection will be closed completely. Those closures are expected to last about 10 working days at a time, with marked detours directing drivers around the work. The city plans to announce those closures in advance through message boards, its website and social media.

The project grew out of a traffic study conducted several years ago. An earlier phase added a lane beneath I-25 using delineators. The new construction will make that configuration permanent while addressing the intersections on both sides of the interstate.

One significant change will be something Las Cruces drivers haven't encountered before: a continuous green T-intersection on northbound Telshor. Traffic entering Telshor from Spruce will merge into the roadway rather than stopping northbound Telshor traffic.

"The major change is going to be on Telshor," one official said. "Traffic heading north on Telshor won't stop unless there's a pedestrian crossing. So that through traffic will continue to move."

Because it will be the city's first continuous green T-intersection, officials plan to release an instructional video before the new traffic pattern opens to help drivers understand how to navigate it.

The project will also close a gap in the southbound Telshor bike lane, which currently ends before the intersection and resumes beyond it. Pedestrian crossings and ADA access will also be upgraded. City officials said those pieces are important because the project isn't simply intended to move more cars through the corridor.

"It's all of the above," one official said. "It's going to maximize, based on the limited corridor that we have there, our traffic flow to be able to get as much traffic where it needs to go. But it also improves safety for pedestrians, improves safety for bicyclists."

The work is being funded through a combination of sources, including state grant money and restricted city funding designated for streets. Officials said combining funding sources is typical for major city transportation projects.

For drivers, however, the immediate concern begins Monday. Traffic-control signs will direct motorists through the changing construction zones, and officials stressed that drivers need to pay attention because allowed movements will change as the project moves from one phase to another.

"Follow the traffic control signs," one official said. "Be patient. Avoid the area if you can. If you can't and you need to get someplace that's the only route, just be patient, follow the signs, slow down."

They particularly stressed slowing down around crews working just feet from moving traffic.

"There are going to be workers present," one official said. "It is congested. They have families that go home too as well, so we want to make sure everybody's safe, including the workers that are out there trying to get this done."

The signs have spent weeks telling Las Cruces drivers when the disruption begins. Starting Monday, the barrels will begin showing them what those warnings meant.