Bernalillo County is seeking more than $17 million to fund at least a dozen road improvement projects, including $1.2 million for the expansion of Bridge Boulevard.

“Bridge Boulevard was the first constructed river crossing in the region and the original Route 66,” Brian Lopez, technical services director with the county, told KRQE News. “With it being now one of the eight river crossings in the area, the intent of this project was to update it, increase the multimodal access of the corridor, and in addition try to improve the traffic flow along the corridor.”

Phase 1 of the project was completed last year. Phase 2 is fully funded and will cost about $9 million. Phase 3 will focus on renovation from Yura Place to Young Avenue.

“Nearby residents will be able to benefit by having ADA-compliant sidewalks constructed with this project (and) buffered bike lanes,” Lopez told KRQE News.

Another project is to continue the Atrisco Vista expansion, from Double Eagle to Paseo Del Norte.

“The road that’s out there right now is kind of a rural older section of road, some steep shoulders and a lot of curves on it,” Elias Archuleta, deputy county manager for Public Works, told KRQE News. “So the work we’re going to do is straighten that out (and) expand the road easily to a four-lane facility.”

The county is requesting $5 million to help fund the estimated $11.8 million project, saying the project is needed to keep up with the growing area.

“There’s an industrial park there that consists of Tempurpedic, Shamrock Foods, and then with Amazon coming in with their fulfillment center and their distribution center, we’re starting to see more interest in additional business coming along,” Archuleta told KRQE News.

While the county has the support of area representatives, Archuleta said they won’t know the outcome of all the funding requests until near the end of the session.

“We have a reasonable expectation that we’ll get some, whether we get the full $5 million is the question,” he said, according to KRQE News.