KASAroads's Blog

Coming up:  Stormy travel followed by closing a main highway into Santa Fe.

Looks like the first winter storm blowing in for Thanksgiving will mostly clip the northeast counties including I-25 and up near the Colorado border before making a mess of air and road travel farther east.  The rest of us just get a big thrust of chilled air giving the bum’s rush to the balmy fall that has lingered here almost to December.

Things seem pretty quiet at the Albuquerque Sunport this evening as seen in streaming video in the 2007 Holiday Guide at KRQE.com which also has links to weather and airline schedule updates.

The next wave hits us Thursday when rain, snow and wind begin spreading across the state through the weekend.  This nastiness is supposed to blow out just in time for the work week, which is also when the state is going to close State Road 14 in southwest Santa Fe for two weeks as part of the Rail Runner construction project.

Basically NM 14, aka Cerrillos Road, will be closed under I-25 although the highway may open on nights and weekends as work allows.  The implications of all this are a little unclear, though.

A state Department of Transportation news releases suggests this only affects people going south on NM 14 trying to turn left to northbound I-25 and everyone going north on 14 trying to get to Santa Fe.  The posting at the DOT weather-and-construction site nmroads.com mentions driving south on NM 14 to Santa Fe when they apparently mean driving north.

Neither the release nor the Web site talks about the I-25 northbound exit to NM 14/Cerrillos Road used by a lot of commuters and other traffic into the city.  No doubt this will get sorted out Monday once folks still groggy from the holiday wonder what all the road-closed signs mean.

The prospect of wintry weather prompted the state’s emergency-management agency to remind folks to be prepared with home and car supply kits to keep warm, fed and watered if stranded by bad weather.  The Web site provides a list of tips.  No one is talking about another big dump like last New Year’s mini-disaster, but it still could get dicey in some areas.