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Traffic travels a newly constructed bridge that crosses an arroyo along Del Rey Boulevard on Friday where heavy rains would previously make it impassable.
For a copy of a city council presentation on improvements for Del Rey Boulevard, click here.

LAS CRUCES - The daily commute for the approximately 14,000 vehicles that travel Del Rey Boulevard every day has just gotten better.

"Man, this is a big improvement from what's been here before," said Raymond Gonzalez, a Las Cruces construction worker, emphasizing "big" in his comments. "Traffic does seem to be moving smoother and the road is definitely wider, nicer."

Construction is substantially complete on a 1,780-foot portion of Del Rey Boulevard, from Settlers Pass to Starburst Ridge. The $2 million project has taken Burn Construction about 11 months to complete.

"It's been a mess (during construction), but the road has always been a mess," said Natalie Melo, who lives just off of Settlers Pass. "The ride is a lot smoother and a lot less stressful. (Traffic) can get pretty busy on Del Rey sometimes, but the road is now twice as wide as it was before. This should cut down on a lot of the hassles people have had for years."

The biggest upgrade for Del Rey is the construction of a 15-barrel, reinforced concrete box culvert bridge across the Sandhill Arroyo. Each of the barrels is five feet tall, 10-inches wide and 134 feet long.

"This is the arroyo the city had so many problems with in 2006," said Public Works Director Mike Johnson,

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referring to severe flooding problems caused during massive summer rains that year. "Those rains came and washed out the road, making it impassible for people to get in or out of that area. That improvement had to be made, we need access to those roads."

But there could be differing opinions about the greatest improvement. Many motorists are enthused that Del Rey has been widened from two lanes to four, and now has median turn lanes.

But some neighbors like the four-foot wide bike lanes, or the five-foot sidewalk.

Most agreed the 10 additional street lights that have also been installed should provide significant night-time safety to motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.

But there's other improvements that aren't noticeable to the public but are welcome by city officials. A thousand feet of new 4-inch gas line and 350 feet of 2-inch gas lines have also been installed. Three hundred feet of 15-inch force main sewer pipe and 970 feet of 12-inch sewer main has also been laid under Del Rey Boulevard.

Also underneath the road is 1,700 feet of new 12-inch water line, and 630 feet of 8-inch water main.

The money to pay for the improvements came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, more commonly known as federal stimulus funding.

Steve Ramirez can be reached at (575) 541-5452.

Del Rey improvements

•The project started in mid March 2010 and was substantially complete by late January.

•The final contract cost is anticipated to be close to the bid award amount of $2.08 million.

•The improvements were made to widen Del Rey Boulevard, and install a box culvert across a major arroyo from Settlers Pass to Starburst Ridge.

•The project is supposed to improve traffic flow, and the box culvert will allow traffic to be out of the arroyo, thus avoiding road closures during heavy rain.

•The project also improves drainage and is expected to increase motorist safety with street lighting.

•New gas, sewer and water utilities have also been installed.