Kirtland gate projects boost base security
Eubank entrance getting upgrade; Wyoming work to start next year
Commuters may notice a few changes going to and from work at Kirtland Air Force Base if they travel through the Eubank Gate over the next few months.
Work on the gate as part of a $10.2 million project to make the base more secure began on Oct. 1. Col. David Miller, installation commander, isn’t expecting major traffic disruptions during the project, which is expected to be completed in September.
But that may not be the case for a future $7 million project involving Wyoming Gate that is expected to get underway next year.
“The problem set’s a little different,” Miller said. “We don’t have a nearby gate to help flow some of that traffic. It’ll be a more complex problem. We’re just now in the planning and the developing stages of that.”
What makes the Eubank Gate different is the presence of a Sandia National Laboratories contractor gate nearby.
“Right now, we enjoy four lanes of traffic going through most mornings at the gate,” the colonel said. “We’re going to keep two of those lanes open and open the other two at the contractor gate. We should have the same amount of traffic flowing through there.”
Access for Sandia’s contractors will move to the base’s contractor gate (off Gibson just west of Carlisle).
Miller said “forced protection enhancements” are being added to Eubank Gate. The project will also realign the 20th and G Street intersection with a street leading to the new National Nuclear Security Administration Albuquerque Complex.
“As we also open the NNSA building down the road in the future, its going to continue the traffic flow at the Eubank Gate,” Miller said. “In addition to the force protection measures, we’re going to create a gate that will allow more traffic to flow through there in a timely fashion.”
Miller said traffic currently backs up at the red light at the gate. He believes the realignment will alleviate some of the congestion.
“We’re going to remove that entire intersection and move it down closer to the inside of the base several hundred yards,” he said. “By displacing the location of the light, it’s going to allow for smoother traffic flow coming on base.”
Miller said the Air Force worked with the city of Albuquerque, Sandia National Laboratories, the NNSA and other agencies and businesses along the Eubank corridor in coming up with a plan “without impacting for long-term traffic actually coming through the gate.”
“We’ve had some town halls for folks who could potentially be impacted,” Kirtland spokeswoman Eva Blaylock said. “We reached out to all of the businesses along the Eubank corridor and folks on base.”
Miller said people living in the area have been supportive of the project.
“They seem very appreciative of the amount of work that has gone into the planning of this project,” he said. “That’s not taken for granted.”
Work on the Wyoming Gate will begin about the time the Eubank project will be ending. The $7 million Wyoming Gate upgrade was on a list being considered by the Department of Defense for possible diversion of funding for the border wall but survived the cut.
“To this point, we’ve got a very good gate at Carlisle,” Miller said. “Gibson was completed last year.”
He said the base is working to secure funding for the contractor gate near Carlisle to “make a more secure and efficient area for bringing contractors on base.”