ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Crews are rebuilding two interchanges and adding a southbound I-25 lane. But Balloon Fiesta starts this Saturday and we know many visitors are taking I-25 to get to the park.

So KOB 4 reached out to the New Mexico Department of Transportation to see what drivers can expect during Balloon Fiesta in the area.

An NMDOT spokesperson says what people will see on Tuesday is what you’ll see at the Balloon Fiesta. Nothing significant will change and there will be no further lane closures.

All work takes place overnight, from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., so you’ll likely see crews on your early morning trips to the park. But most of the work is currently being done under the Comanche Bridge.

However, NMDOT says it wants to add more signage.

“We will have warning messages posted on our ceiling DMS boards to warn people coming from other states or around the world about an impending zone. Really, it’s not actively being built. There is active construction, but traffic will not be impacted daily during the festival,” said Kimberly Gallegos, an NMDOT spokeswoman.

If you have driven this route since the work began, you know how easily traffic jams occur.

Maybe you’ve seen a car accident or two or been stuck in backup because of one.

We reported on a few in the area as construction progressed.

NMDOT says they have had discussions regarding this. The emergency services notice that traffic jams occur when people try to move from the far left to the far right lane and vice versa when merging.

They say if you don’t merge, try to stay in the leftmost lane to avoid the traffic jam.

“We are aware of the number of accidents. There are also other incidents such as: B. Areas of stalled vehicles where we have had someone where it is not an accident but an incident. So we see a lot of different incidents in the work area, but we just ask people to leave space between the car in front of them,” Gallegos said.

They recommend giving yourself extra time to get to the park and being patient with any traffic jams.

This project is expected to last the next three years.

For more construction updates on the I-25 improvements from Comanche to Montgomery, click here.