The I-25/US 550 Bridge Reconstruction just keeps going and going, but wait there’s more… or less. The old intersection had two eastbound lanes to Placitas. When you exited from northbound I-25 to head east at 165, you had to crane your neck around to see if you could merge. Some of you might remember the DOT public presentation in November of 2011 where the plan we were to agree upon included a new merge acceleration lane? I sure do and the reasoning. It would be safer. All of us had seen both rear-end and side-swipe collisions at that intersection. The merge lane was needed and we agreed.
You have probably noticed there is no merge lane. In fact, the angle of the reconstructed intersection due to aligning 165 further south is even more acute. Now you really have to crane your neck to merge and I have observed that the large trucks have to stick their heads out of the window to see oncoming traffic. The new intersection is worse than before. What happened? As it turns out the merge lane was removed to better accommodate gravel trucks jockeying over to the northbound frontage road. The logic of this decision is perplexing.
On January 30th,2014 ES-CA representatives met with DOT District 3 Engineer Tim Parker at the I-25 / 550 intersection. ES-CA had the week earlier sent a letter on the safety concern to Mr. Parker, our county Fire Chief and Sheriff, and to our state and federal representatives (link to letter below). At the meeting Mr. Parker recognized our concern, but wished to complete the project without the merge lane and see how it worked. Construction is expected to be complete in 60 days and lets hope no one is hurt in the meantime. ES-CA asked in the meantime that DOT investigate restricting heavy trucks over 2 tons from the frontage roads between 7- 9 AM and 4 – 6 PM to lessen the congestion. Mr. Parker said he would investigate. ES-CA believe that reducing the number of trucks during peak commute times would benefit both the trucks and the passenger cars. Similarly, adding back the merge lane would increase the traffic safety for both our community and the large trucks.
January 21 letter to DOT: DOT Letter 21Jan2014
I agree the new intersection is worse than before.
An added item that makes it worse is the curving curb. One is forced to crane the neck leftward to see oncoming traffic while holding the steering wheel rightward to avoid hitting the curb and creating a tire hazard.
A merge lane should be provided to allow vehicles to straighten out, so that side and review view mirrors can be used. THIS ISSUE SHOULD BE PRESSED SINCE IT WAS THE REASON THE ACCESS ROAD INTERSECTION WAS MOVED UP THE HILL (AT CONSIDERABLE EXPENSE).
My wife has been rear ended twice merging from the I-25 North onto Eastbound165. The new exit is indeed worse, and needs to be corrected.
I agree and am quite disappointed at the trajectory of the exit/”merge” land which is not a merge lane at all. In addition, the left turn access to So. Hill Road is now blocked when coming from Placitas direction. How are we to access the “Park n Ride”?
I got off I25 North to go to Bernalillo and was very confused by the arrows and road stripes which looked like they indicated I have to go onto I25 South. It is confusing and dangerous.
Turning right and looking left while riding a motorcycle can be challenging. The I25 Placitas off ramp and merger onto 165 is dangerous. It is very difficult to tell which lane East bound 165 traffic is in, so you have to almost stop/stop in order to determine how and when to enter 165 eastbound. As noted by others, this creates a rear end hazard. A couple of times I have used the space to the right of the solid line on 165 to avoid both eastbound165 traffic and/or being rear ended. On the southbound entry ramp the lane arrow directs traffic to merge to the right – many stay left/pass and create a sideswipe situation. At I25 Exit 240 south bound, you can’t see traffic coming under the I25 bridge if you stop at the stop line – there is a dangerous blind spot in the north bound Exit 240 underpass road. It is easy to pull in front of an unsuspecting driver. Suggest moving the stop line forward until the situation can be permanently fixed.
The exit from 165 to I25 south is more dangerous than it needs to be. the through lane, the outside lane turning left has cars merging into it from both the left (165) and from the right (550). It clearly would make more sense for the inside 165 lane to be the through lane and ALL other lanes to merge left into it?
This would only take two buckets of paint, black & white and a drunk with a paint brush to fix!