ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A big construction project is underway in Uptown Albuquerque. Since June 3, the city has had road blocks, crews and signage all around the area, especially at the intersection of Indian School and Louisiana.

“The main thing is it needed to be repaved, and we took that as an opportunity to improve the intersection for pedestrian and bicycle safety. The free right-hand turns, as we call them, are just terrible for pedestrians. You can’t really cross them as a pedestrian. So we’re eliminating those,” said Dan Mayfield, a public information officer for the city’s Municipal Development. 

Mayfield says the $3 million project is a mix of federal and city funding. The goal is to make the popular shopping district more walkable.

“We’re also adding a HAWK signal, there’s a lot of people that like to either park at Target and shop at ABQ Uptown or vice versa. And we’re making it much easier now for people to be able to walk across Indian School,” said Mayfield. 

Like other HAWK signals across the metro, it will be a red light.

Mayfield is asking the community to be patient as the project unfolds, but one month in and residents are already frustrated.

“It really does interfere with people’s ability to get around, it’s frustrating. And so I just think we should do a better job,” said Dean Constantine, an Albuquerque resident. 

Constantine likes that the area is walkable but thinks construction should’ve been done in phases.

“That’s one of the unique things about ABQ Uptown. That said, it just depends on how much disruption we have to deal with to get to that point,” said Constantine. 

Another resident KOB 4 spoke with agrees.

“I love walkable, outdoors. Anything to make it walkable and outdoors,” said Carol Stevens, another Albuquerque resident. “Since it’s gonna take nine months, it’s gonna block anything up. They should’ve done maybe one section at a time.”

The project is expected to go on for at least another eight months. It started last month, and we’re told everything is on schedule.

The city says construction will be paused for 30 days during the holiday season. During that time, contractors will open as many lanes as possible to let people shop.