{"id":3494,"date":"2024-08-01T16:06:50","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T16:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/?p=3494"},"modified":"2024-08-01T16:10:11","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T16:10:11","slug":"what-the-rail-trail-could-mean-for-local-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/?p=3494","title":{"rendered":"What the Rail Trail could mean for local businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Path Forward<\/strong>
How local property and business owners feel about the 7-mile Rail Trail project.
By Aayush Gupta \u2013 Real Estate Reporter , Albuquerque Business First<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Albuquerque Rail Trail project, spearheaded by the City of Albuquerque, has made new strides since the planning and framework for the development were first announced in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction started<\/a> on May 22 for the first phase of the project at Central Crossing, located on First Street and Central Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first phase of the project involves building three ramps that take pedestrians and bikes to the level of the tracks to establish a safe and accessible crossing over the railway,\u201d Terry Brunner, director at the City of Albuquerque\u2019s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency (MRA), said. \u201cThe two pedestrian underpasses will be closed.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The underpass is being revamped due to safety concerns, according to a news release by the MRA. Albuquerque-based Jaynes Corp. has been contracted to build this segment of the trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the project\u2019s funding coming from multiple sources, the City is obligated to issue bidding requests for each segment. Jaynes Corp. will also be responsible for the second phase of the development, Brunner said. The ramps are projected to be completed by the end of 2025, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, Brunner expects the $90 million Rail Trail project<\/a> to be carried out in about eight phases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The crossing] is, in a sense, the first phase,\u201d Brunner said. \u201cThe second phase is the Sawmill segment, which we hope to break ground on in August. That is the segment from Mountain Road to Bellamah [Avenue]. In 2025, we also hope to get started on the segment from the Rail Yards to Lomas Boulevard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire project will encompass a 7-mile loop that links Albuquerque\u2019s Downtown area to local attractions such as Old Town, Rail Yards, Sawmill District, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) and the Albuquerque Convention Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brunner said that while the general pathway for the trail is established, the final construction documents for the entire trail are still in development. He expects to finalize those documents by 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know the general pathway of the trail, but \u2026 there are possibilities that it could move a little bit from what we expect right now, depending on easements [and] land acquisition,\u201d Brunner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, the MRA completed route studies in neighborhoods such as Barelas and Old Town to develop a plan that would help neighborhoods grow and benefit from the trail. These studies, conducted by a mix of local and national firms, such as Toole Design and Wilson & Co., aim to ensure the trail integrates well within surrounding communities, Brunner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Albuquerque Rail Trail is expected to unlock approximately $590 million in redevelopment initiatives, a figure that might fluctuate slightly by the project\u2019s completion in 2027, Brunner said. The MRA currently has redevelopment plans in place for Barelas, Downtown, Wells Park and Sawmill. Although Brunner could not specify the exact details of these plans, he said redevelopment will include a variety of industries such as housing, commercial and retail developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been highlighting news and updates on the Rail Trail through proactive outreach to travel media and are already promoting it to meeting and convention groups that we are working to secure for future years in terms of what will be new and will enhance their experience,\u201d Brenna Moore, director of communications and public relations for Visit Albuquerque, a nonprofit destination marketing organization, said in an email statement to Albuquerque Business First.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business First recently talked to local business owners along the trail segment from the ABQ BioPark Aquarium to the Sawmill District, to get their perspective on the project and its potential impact. Business First will dive into additional segments of the Rail Trail as work progresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Path ForwardHow local property and business owners feel about the 7-mile Rail Trail project.By Aayush Gupta \u2013 Real Estate Reporter , Albuquerque Business First The Albuquerque Rail Trail project, spearheaded by the City of Albuquerque, has made new strides since the planning and framework for the development were first announced in 2021. Construction started on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3494"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3499,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494\/revisions\/3499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wheelsmuseum.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}