Construction of the long awaited Northeast and Southeast Connectors near Santa Fe Community College is expected to begin this summer.
Officials with Santa Fe County and the Metropolitan Planning Organization say with all right of ways now acquired and the funding in place, the project is now shovel ready and work is expected to begin in July.
The Northeast and Southeast Connectors Road Project has been in the planning stages for over 20 years.
Santa Fe County Public Works Director Gary Giron (gee-RON) says the Connectors are designed to relieve traffic congestion on Richards Avenue and provide more access points to the Santa Fe Community College area.
“The Northeast and Southeast Connectors are proposed as limited access controlled facilities designed as future arterial connected roadways and lie within the areas of Santa Fe County which has been experiencing tremendous growth within the last 20 years,” he said.
The Northeast Connector will realign existing Rabbit Road to run parallel with southbound I-25 between Richards Avenue and St. Francis Drive. It will extend south of I-25 from Dinosaur Trail to Rabbit Road. The Southeast Connector will extend south-southeast from the Northeast Connector along a PNM power line easement to just south of College Drive and continue south to the Avenida del Sur intersection. From that point, it will proceed west along Avenida del Sur to Richards Avenue.
Construction is expected to be completed in the fall of 2023.