TIJERAS, N.M. (KRQE) – Hundreds of Tijeras Canyon area neighbors are gaining traction with the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) after months of grumbling about excessive noise and safety concerns on I-40 through the canyon. News 13 spoke with the state agency about how their plans have recently changed.

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“Trucks and cars are hitting those rumble strips all the time; can you imagine at two, three, four in the morning? That it’s elevated the ambient noise levels for hundreds and hundreds of people,” said Joseph Karnes, partner at Sommer Karnes & Associates, LLP.

Shortly after the project through I-40 East in the Tijeras Canyon wrapped up, people living around the stretch noticed the fresh pavement wasn’t the only new development: there was a lot more noise from the roadway, too. “For people who live in the canyon, it’s like a big amphitheater,” Karnes said.

The rumble strips, or divots in the road alerting drivers they’ve gone out of the lane, were placed on top of the painted line instead of the usual 16 inches outside of it; causing noise and safety concerns when drivers are driving on it frequently. “By bringing the rumble strips in closer to the edge of travel, you have a situation where people are startled. They’re not expecting that kind of a situation; they might overcorrect or things can happen and our concern is that the potential of a terrible accident exists,” Karnes said.

Karnes is an attorney who represents roughly 250 residents in the area trying to work with NMDOT to find a solution. “And it appears that a solution is in the offing,” Karnes said.

Ricky Serna, cabinet secretary of NMDOT, says they’ve heard the people’s concerns. “In identifying a way to minimize lane departure-related incidences, we’ve created a secondary issue which is the noise and it’s probably compounded by the fact that that design sits in a canyon,” Serna said, “We made a decision a week or so ago to essentially get in there with a contractor, mill out the rumbles and move them outward.”

NMDOT says they hope to begin construction on the rumble strips on this section of I-40 by the early summer, either May or June. There is not yet word on how much the project will cost. “We weren’t sitting idly on the issue, as much as contemplating what was the best move—understanding that whether it was restriping or milling out and moving them out, we were going to need to wait until temperatures got to a place that work could be done,” Serna said.

“We heard the residents, we understand their concerns. I’ve been there personally and have seen all of the work and have driven on the rumble and understand the magnitude of the noise so this is us just being responsive,” Serna said.

NMDOT says the Tijeras Canyon stretch is the only place in the state where they’ve placed rumble strips like this. They will hold a community meeting in the first week of April to discuss their plans to move the rumble strips further out. “My clients, I know, appreciate the responsiveness that Mr. Serna and NMDOT have provided and we look forward to seeing it play out over the next few months and we’ll keep an eye on it. We want to make sure it happens and we’re looking forward to a win-win situation at the end of the day,” Karnes said.