Lane and off-ramp closures due to a multiyear project to rehabilitate Interstate 40 from the Santa Fe County line to Albuquerque should be over around Oct. 10, according to Phil Gallegos, public information officer for the Department of Transportation. After that there should some minor work before the project is finished around Oct. 19.

"I'm sure it's going to be a big relief," he said. "Especially with winter coming up."

And don't expect the same level of lane closures and dreaded construction-related backups to come back any time soon, he said. That may be hard to believe for some, but it's true, Gallegos said.

Over the last four years there have been four major projects, one per year.

With the exception of the stretch from Carnuel to the exit to Tramway Blvd., which was done in the late 1990s, each year the DOT hired a contractor to rip up a three-to-five-mile stretch of roadway and replace it.

In addition to replacing the roadway, barriers were installed along the median to help prevent head-on collisions, Gallegos said. There are two breaks in the barriers for emergency vehicles to turn around in and around Tijeras and one in the Carnuel area.

He pointed out that, in spite of the headaches of reconstruction, the benefits of the rebuilt roadway will likely be felt by residents after construction is completed. He spoke in terms of wear and tear on vehicles and, to some extent, quality of life.

"Your infrastructure is the backbone of everything we do," he said. "It manifests itself in all kinds of ways … it's got to be worth the inconvenience to have the improved drive-time, the safety of ingress and egress …"

This last leg of the project in the East Mountains has actually been part of a larger I-40 reconstruction project to rebuild the entire roadway in Bernalillo County. The reconstruction will be finished when the ongoing project in Albuquerque between Louisiana and Carlisle is completed in November and all the lanes on I-40 are restored, Gallegos said.

"It was a long journey. A lot of people don't realize …" he said. "I think the people that are going to use that corridor are going to be quite delighted to have that done."

Next on what is probably an endless slate of reconstruction projects for the DOT will be a series of projects on I-25, he said.