Rabbit Road to close for six weeks

A segment of Rabbit Road south of the city will close for about six weeks starting Monday for continued construction on a major Santa Fe County project to improve the network of roadways around Santa Fe Community College.

The $25 million Northeast and Southeast Connector Project will ultimately include six roundabouts and three new road segments totaling about four miles, as well as trailhead parking for the Spur Trail.

The project is largely finished. AUI Inc., an Albuquerque-based contractor, has completed five of the six roundabouts and about 99% of the “dirt work,” said Curt Temple, a projects section manager for the county Public Works Department. Some paving work remains to be complete, he said.

The contractor initially aimed to finish the project, which began in January 2023, by December. However, workers encountered a setback related to a miscalculation of the dirt needed for one area, which necessitated some redesign, Temple said.

The expected completion date is now September, if not earlier, he said.

The six-week closure of part of Rabbit Road will allow workers to link the road with the Southeast Connector — which the County Commission recently renamed Falcon Way, a nod to the birds of prey frequently sighted in the area. Crews also will tie in Oshara Boulevard with a new roundabout, a county news release said.

It’s important for safety reasons that pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers follow posted detours, county spokeswoman Olivia Romo said.

“Pedestrians and bikers have seen some challenges with this big construction project, but once this project is complete, it’s going to really improve mobility” for both drivers and bicyclists, she said.

The county began planning the roads project more than 20 years ago to alleviate traffic congestion, particularly along Richards Avenue, in a growing area. The project also will reroute traffic that has been traveling through Oshara Village. The community was not designed for the volume of cars that have been passing through, Temple said.

In keeping with a county initiative to only “dig once,” construction workers also extended county water lines — at a cost of $2.2 million, on top of about $22.9 million for roadwork — and installed conduits that allow for future expansion of high-speed internet, Temple said.

The roundabouts will have solar lighting, rather than connections to the power grid, which saved about $1 million, he added.

Santa Fe County funded the majority of the project using road funds and general obligation bonds. About $6.8 million came from the state Department of Transportation.