I-25 Albuquerque reconstruction could finish ahead of schedule

Albuquerque drivers could get relief on I-25 sooner than expected if the Montgomery and Comanche interchange rebuild stays on its current pace. Acting NMDOT Secretary David Quintana said crews expect to finish by April 2027 and that the project is on track, possibly even slightly ahead of schedule, but Bernalillo County commuters are still dealing with detours, lane shifts and noisy work zones on one of the metro’s busiest corridors.

The reconstruction began in August 2024 as a roughly three-year job and has grown into one of the biggest road projects New Mexico has taken on since the Big I rebuild. Local reporting has put the price tag at about $268 million, making it NMDOT’s largest project in recent history. The interchange serves more than 100,000 drivers a day, so even a modest schedule gain would mean fewer months of disruption for people commuting between the North Valley, Uptown, the Northeast Heights and points farther south.

For drivers, “ahead of schedule” would not mean the work is done without fallout. It would mean the city gets back key capacity sooner, while the remaining closures, lane shifts and frontage-road work finish in a shorter window than first expected. The project is designed to add lanes, rebuild both the Montgomery and Comanche interchanges, widen frontage roads and install bike lanes on Montgomery Boulevard and Comanche Road. The old loop ramp from Montgomery to I-25 is being removed as part of the redesign, a change aimed at easing congestion and improving safety where northbound traffic has backed up for miles.

The work has already cleared several milestones. NMDOT said the project reached the halfway mark in February 2026, and crews finished the concrete deck for the eastbound Montgomery Boulevard bridge in April 2026, opening the door for more work on ramps and frontage roads. Even so, current traffic shifts and closures show the corridor is still in the middle of a major rebuild, not the end of one.

That matters for businesses along Comanche Road and nearby neighborhoods, where drivers have said the project has been frustrating and pushed some traffic onto back roads. One business owner on Comanche Road said the construction has slowed customer traffic. State Rep. Day Hochman-Vigil has said lane shifting and work timing are meant to reduce the impact during commuting hours, but the broader challenge remains: New Mexico still faces an estimated $7.5 billion in road repairs statewide, and traffic on this corridor is expected to grow further by 2040.