The traffic lights at Morris Road and N.M. 314, in front of the Valencia County Courthouse, came down in July. Crews tore up the west lanes and squeezed traffic onto the east side of the highway. When the work is done, that stretch of Morris Road will no longer exist. It becomes Los Lunas Boulevard, and Morris will end just west of the courthouse entrance with a new intersection on the boulevard, according to the Valencia County News-Bulletin's August 27 report. Nearby, Juan Perea Road has lost its access to Morris Road and N.M. 314 for good. Local access to homes and businesses stays open, KOAT reported.
That is the first thing a Los Lunas buyer should understand in fall 2026. The village's $159.1 million corridor project is changing the street grid, and those changes are permanent. It is not only a future convenience. The second thing matters more. The interchange gets the headlines, but the roads that decide which neighborhoods can actually reach it sit on two separate funding tracks. Neither track is fully settled.
A Town Built Around One Bridge
For decades, east-west travel in Los Lunas has had one route. A corridor study by the Mid-Region Council of Governments describes N.M. 6 as the area's only arterial crossing of the valley and the Rio Grande, and also its only local access to I-25. The nearest other river crossings are about 10 miles north and south. In 2020, the News-Bulletin reported roughly 26,000 daily trips over the existing bridge and a forecast of more than 43,000 by 2035. Those are dated estimates, not current counts.
Village officials describe the effect plainly. "There is gridlock sometimes, especially during the school year," Deputy Village Administrator Nancy Jo Gonzalez told KOAT in July. She named emergency vehicle movement as one of the biggest priorities. The village projects that the new boulevard will cut Main Street traffic by about 40 to 43 percent. That is a projection, not a measured result.
Every Los Lunas address, on either side of the river, has been priced in a market where Main Street was the bottleneck. The project removes that bottleneck unevenly, and the unevenness comes from how each piece is funded.
Three Pieces, Three Different Funding Sources
| Piece | What it builds | How it's funded | Status as of fall 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | New I-25 interchange about a mile south of the N.M. 6 interchange, a four-lane Rio Grande bridge, a two-lane Los Lunas Boulevard running about four miles to N.M. 47, multi-use trails | $159.1 million construction cost from a roughly $169 million package: NMDOT, the Federal Highway Administration, the state's NM Match Fund and the village | Under construction since August 2025, ahead of schedule |
| Phase 2 | Widening the boulevard, which KRQE described as going from one lane each way to two | $80 million, not yet secured | No dedicated appropriation found |
| West-side connectors | Huning Ranch East and West Loop extensions, the N.M. 6 intersection at Sun Ranch Village Road, design of a West Loop bypass | 50% of village gross receipts tax generated by Meta's data center construction | Agreement adopted; target is to open with the interchange |
Phase 1 is the only piece with full funding and active construction, and it is going well. At a July council meeting, Wyatt Kartchner of Molzen Corbin, the firm managing the project, reported that crews had used 197 working days and had 743 left. In his words, that was "about 20 percent of their time so far" and "about 30 percent of the money." Crews were moving excavated material under the interstate on a conveyor belt through an existing box culvert to save trucking time. Bridge piles were reaching capacity at about 80 feet instead of the planned 100, and the council approved a change order that captured the savings. The village's current target for corridor completion is August 2029.
Two Lanes on a Four-Lane Bridge
The bridge is being built for four lanes. The road leading to it opens with two. That gap is what Phase 2 is meant to close, and in 2025 the village said it would ask for the $80 million during the 2026 legislative session.
No dedicated Phase 2 award has turned up since. The 2026 capital outlay bill, SB 240, was signed March 11 with a partial veto. The Senate Finance Committee's county chart for that bill lists $400,000 for the Sun Ranch Village Road and N.M. 6 intersection in Los Lunas. It shows no line for Phase 2 among its Valencia County entries.
What the village does have is an $8 million appropriation from 2024 for the interchange. It was once thought to have been reassigned. In May, the village confirmed the money was still available. Public Works Director Michael Jaramillo said the project was still short for Phase 2 and that the $8 million could be moved there. The state's June 2026 quarterly report shows the full $8 million unspent, with a reversion date of June 30, 2028. Under the agreement the council approved in May, the village spends first and then seeks reimbursement from the state.
Even if all of it went to widening, $8 million is one-tenth of the Phase 2 cost. For a buyer weighing a home east of the river, the realistic opening-day picture is a second crossing with one lane each way, and the timing of the full four-lane corridor is unknown.
On the West Side, the Roads Depend on Meta's Construction Pace
West of I-25, the interchange is only useful if roads connect to it. Those roads are being paid for in an unusual way. Under a Local Economic Development Act agreement adopted by the village council on March 26, Los Lunas will put 50 percent of its available gross receipts tax from construction tied to Meta's data center expansion toward road projects. The Valencia County Commission approved its own LEDA ordinance earlier that month. The village's September 8 release identifies it as Ordinance No. 486.
The News-Bulletin's September 24 report lists what the money will fund:
- Huning Ranch East Loop Extension. A new four-lane road, three-quarters of a mile long, from Berman Way to the new interchange, with sidewalks, streetlights, water and sewer lines, and a signalized intersection.
- Huning Ranch West Loop Extension. A new four-lane road, nearly a mile long, connecting the West Loop at Lonestar Street to the East Loop. It opens up the 900-plus-acre Los Senderos master-planned community south of Main Street.
- N.M. 6 at Sun Ranch Village Road. A rebuilt, signalized intersection west of I-25 with new medians, improving access to the new Valencia County Hospital.
- Los Lunas West Loop. Planning and design only for a proposed 6.5-mile bypass looping around Los Lunas Hill to link N.M. 6, west of El Cerro de Los Lunas, with the new interchange.
"We want these new roads open to traffic by the time the new interchange and the Los Lunas Boulevard project are complete," Mayor Charles Griego said. "The relief should arrive with the interchange, not long after it." The village's partnership won the 2026 Business Retention and Expansion Award at the New Mexico IDEA Economic Development Excellence Awards on September 3.
Because the revenue comes from a share of construction-generated tax, the pace of the roads depends on the pace of Meta's building program. Neither the village release nor the News-Bulletin report gives a total dollar figure for the road package or a projection of tax receipts. The West Loop bypass, the piece that would most change travel around Los Lunas Hill, is funded only for design at this stage.
The two sides of the river are on different clocks. East-side access depends on a state-funded bridge that is running ahead of schedule and opening narrower than it was built. West-side access depends on connectors funded by a private company's construction activity, with a stated goal and no stated budget.
The Construction Years Come With the House
August 2029 is almost three years out from today. A household buying this fall will live through most of the remaining construction, and some of the changes are already permanent.
- Morris Road and N.M. 314. Jaramillo told the council the intersection rebuild would take "about five months, six months," with new lights, new lanes and new pavement. Work began July 15. During the late-summer closure, drivers heading to the courthouse, the Badlands Drive-In and the Los Lunas Sports Complex were sent north to Main Street and back down Camelot Boulevard.
- N.M. 47. Work began in August between just north of Autumn Breeze Lane and Wolfe Road, where the boulevard will meet the highway on the east side.
- Camelot Boulevard. The new alignment has deliberately sharp curves. Kartchner said they were meant partly to slow drivers and partly to protect a local orchard. The village plans to add warning signs.
- Power lines. The village is working with PNM to move lines along Morris Road and has asked for easement changes.
The market gives buyers some room to look into all of this. The Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors' August 2026 report on Southwest MLS data for Valencia County shows 78 sales in August, a median sold price of $309,373, 286 active listings and an average of 50 days on market. At August's sales pace, that inventory works out to about three and a half months of supply. These are countywide figures, not Los Lunas only. Still, they describe a market where checking a property's road access before making an offer is practical.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Los Lunas Boulevard project expected to open? The village's current projection, reported in September 2026, is August 2029. Earlier reports said mid-2028 or gave a four-year timeline. The September 2026 figure is the most recent.
Will the boulevard have four lanes when it opens? Phase 1 builds a four-lane bridge and a two-lane road. Widening is part of the $80 million Phase 2, which has no dedicated funding as of the latest village statements.
How do I find out whether a specific property's access is changing? The village keeps project details, traffic impacts and an FAQ at loslunasnm.gov/interchange. Changes like the permanent closure of Juan Perea Road's access to Morris Road have been announced through the village and covered in local news.
If you are comparing homes on either side of the river, or a parcel near Huning Ranch or the future boulevard, Maestas Real Estate Services can go through the corridor schedule, the funding status and the access changes for that specific address with you before you write an offer. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
