The St. Francis/St. Michaels Interchange Study (Study) in Santa Fe, New Mexico (New Mexico Department of Transportation [NMDOT] Control Number S100440) is sponsored by the NMDOT with funding from the Federal Highway Administration. The proposed Study is centered on the St. Francis/St. Michaels Interchange area within the City of Santa Fe, including the St. Francis Dr. (US 84-285) mainline from the Siringo Road intersection on the south to the San Mateo Road intersection on the north. The corresponding reach along St. Michaels Dr. (NM 466) is from the Pacheco Street intersection on the west to the Galisteo Street intersection on the east. A buffer area is included around these limits to encompass potential Study effects (view vicinity map).
The Study is being conducted in accordance with the NMDOT’s Location Study Procedures (2015) – the policy document followed by the NMDOT to comply with federal transportation planning and environmental regulations. This guidebook outlines the following phases of project development:
The current Study consists of a Phase B Detailed Evaluation of Alternatives, which is a continuation of the previous St. Francis/St. Michaels Interchange Alternatives Report prepared by Radian Engineering in 2018 (PDF). The previous report compiled information on the existing conditions and constraints, establish the Purpose and Need, develop Study alternatives, and perform an initial screening of those alternatives. The initial screening concluded that some of these alternatives are not feasible, based on an evaluation of their effectiveness in achieving the Purpose and Need, their engineering feasibility, and their environmental, cultural, and social effects. However, we are asking for comments from the public on all the alternatives presented. Once a preferred alternative has been identified and the Phase B report has been completed, Phase C environmental documentation and Phase D preliminary design will follow.
The proposed Study is one of several transportation improvements that were identified in the St. Francis Dr. through City of Santa Fe Corridor Study (Bohannan Huston, Inc. 2010). This analysis was based on a macro-level evaluation that lacked the detail needed to make final design recommendations for any given area. The previous St. Francis/St. Michaels – Interchange Alternatives Report (Radian 2018) and current Phase B Study broaden the investigation of the existing interchange and provide a more detailed analysis of possible improvements. The main objective of the current Study is to evaluate feasible alternatives in more detail and ensure that proposed improvements will address the Purpose and Need of the Study.
