Anyone driving up and down Interstate 25 at night north of the Big I has seen the first stages of a major construction project getting underway from the Comanche exit to the Jefferson exit. It is expected to begin in earnest in August and last through the spring of 2027.

Of all the breweries in town that could be affected, none is more obvious than Nexus Brewery, which sits along the northbound frontage road just past Montgomery. With only one entrance/exit into the brewery parking lot, any construction on the frontage road can have a real impact on Nexus’ day-to-day business.

“We have known for a while and we’ve just been dreading the day that they would actually start,” Nexus owner Ken Carson said. “But, they’ve actually started out there (already).”

Work is already being done on the Jefferson overpass to the north, Carson said, and work is underway on some stretches of the frontage road between Montgomery and Jefferson. So far it is all being done at night. The bigger work will start soon south of the brewery.

“It sounds like they’re going to (mainly) start with Candelaria and Comanche, and that has to be completed by the end of next year,” Carson said. “Then, in the meantime, they’re going to be working on things in front of us, but we won’t be impacted until the end of next year, when they start really messing around with the frontage road in front of us.”

Staying optimistic, even in the face of what could be a lengthy project, is something that everyone at Nexus will just have to do going forward.

“That’s the bad news,” Carson said. “The good news is the entry into Nexus will be a lot easier. There will be a slowdown lane that will basically help you pull over. To some extent, more traffic will be going in front of us than previously. That’s the bright side, but we’re going to have to get through the tough part first.”

Carson said he already had one meeting with New Mexico Department of Transportation officials, and that Jeff Erway from La Cumbre and Jamie Schwebach and Tom White from Canteen were also present. Another meeting is scheduled for Friday.

“Tom White was gracious when I asked him a question,” Carson said. “I asked him how much did (Albuquerque Rapid Transit) impact Il Vicino on Central. He said it was terrible. And, so I’m anticipating probably a drop in sales. I guess when it really starts going we’ll see a drop in sales of 20 to 30 percent.

“It’s going to hurt, but we’ve been in that position I’d say five years ago, that’s where our sales were and we were doing OK. We’ll have to tighten the belt as much as possible. We probably will put more emphasis than ever on developing our catering business.”

It also helps that Nexus Blue Smokehouse is humming along, far from this construction.

“We’ll get the barbecue store up to where it can carry some of the load for this store,” Carson said. “It’s been just the opposite over the last few years. But, on the other hand, they’re also starting a construction project between Gibson and Cesar Chavez, and that’s just a year away.”

Carson laughed at the concept of multiple freeway construction projects going on at once, but he did note that at least in the case of Blue, there are other ways to access that location on Broadway that do not involve using I-25.

“I agree 100 percent,” he said. “I’m not quite as worried about Broadway as I am about this one. We’ll weather this storm whatever way this goes. That’s the good thing about having two locations, if one gets weak, the other one can hold in there, and vice versa. That’s what I’m looking forward at.”

Carson said that he does not anticipate having to lay off any employees in the future, mainly due to a resumption of the 2021-22 pattern of having a constant staff churn among servers and cooks.

“I’m not too afraid,” he said. “I think we’re going to be fine. I think it will just be another big challenge among many.”

One assurance, of sorts, that the NMDOT provided during the last meeting was how they have set up a bonus structure with their primary contractor for the construction.

“One of the things that’s unique about how they’re doing this is to create incentives for the project managers to not disrupt the businesses,” Carson said. “They will hold a meeting every quarter for everyone involved. If the businesses say that they haven’t been too badly affected, there will be a $100,000 (bonus) available for the contractor. It’s an incentive to make sure they don’t disrupt us too much based on our responses.”

Ultimately, Nexus understands the concerns of their loyal customers with what is to come, but Carson and his staff feel that they can handle whatever the construction throws at them in the next two-plus years.

“I appreciate the fact that there is concern, but I feel pretty confident about our regular customers weathering the storm,” Carson said.

If any other breweries, or brewery customers, would like to reach out to us to express their concerns/hopes/lingering questions, our email and DMs are always open.

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— Stoutmeister