ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — I-40 is one of the most traveled roadways in New Mexico – and the country – largely because of all the freight traffic coming from southern California. Federal leaders predict it’s only going to get busier in the future.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has a plan to overcome supply chain issues, and it appears the Albuquerque metro could be a key ingredient. They are encouraging cities along I-40 to build new warehouses and fueling infrastructure to make the trade route out of Los Angeles more efficient.

Instead of relying on limited storage space in southern California, companies could house their imports in larger, cheaper facilities in the same cities they’d have to pass through anyway.

“The goal would be to get a lot of them straight to Albuquerque, and then pushed out into the other parts of the country,” said Marcos Gonzales, executive development officer with Bernalillo County. “So that way it speeds up that efficiency time.”

Bernalillo County is taking the lead on the project, but Sandoval County, Rio Rancho, and Los Lunas are all involved.

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded the group nearly $1 million to develop a 6,000-acre logistics facility somewhere in the metro, but officials say that’s just the beginning.

“The big picture is to have it be a manufacturing hub,” Gonzales said. “We want to see more advanced manufacturing, and so with having access to that type of transportation nodes, we’ll be able to have additional manufacturers as well.”

Officials say there’s also a focus on clean energy. The new logistics facility would have electric chargers or hydrogen-fueling capabilities to encourage the transition away from diesel trucks.

Officials are still in the planning stage, so any construction projects are still months – if not years – away.