Oct 03, 2024
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The 52nd Balloon Fiesta is now less than two days out and the city said this year tens of thousands of visitors will be met with more parking and a lot of added comforts inside Balloon Fiesta Park.  Story continues below News: ACLU suing former officers, APD over DWI corruption scheme Investigation: Arresting deputy refuses to testify in DWI license hearing Trending: 14 acres of the Albuquerque Bosque to close for restoration project The city's been working on millions of dollars worth of upgrades for the last few months. That includes over a thousand new parking spaces and a lot more flushable bathrooms. "No matter how many times you've experienced it, fiesta is a bright spot for our city and state that we all look forward to every year,"  said Tania Armenta, Visit Albuquerque CEO and president.   This year one of the biggest additions comes in the form of parking. The city bought the old Honeywell building parking lot adding 1,650 new parking spaces. "With this parking lot, the chance that our parking lot selling out on weekends is greatly diminished," said Judith Nakamura, AIBF board president.  But the parking lot is just one of the new additions for this year's fiesta paid for with around $15 million from the Governor's Office. "We do expect that it's going to keep growing which is why the city invested in the park areas museums and so much of the infrastructure," said New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.  Balloon Fiesta Park now has a new electrical system that will help with the main stage and the businesses along vendor row eliminating half of the generators they used in the past. 30 flushable toilets are on the grounds this year as the city works to eventually make permanent facilities. They will also have wi-fi for first responders. Other improvements to the park include 19 new security cameras on the field, a new five-foot wide ADA sidewalk on the north side of Balloon Fiesta Parkway, improved stormwater drainage on Pilots Parkway, and an updated public address system and speakers. When it comes to traffic, drivers will head through the I-25 Comanche/Montgomery project.   "I-25 is going to look much like it does preconstruction except we have scooted the lanes over to the medians, so I think drivers will recognize as you move into the passing lanes it's a little bit more bumpy than usual because we made that shift,” said Ricky Serna, New Mexico Department of Transportation.  NMDOT said throughout the duration of Balloon Fiesta, crews will not close any additional lanes along I-25 between Comanche and Montgomery. The speed limit will be 55 mph. 
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