In 2019, the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) and the City of Gallup developed the Gallup Area Transportation Safety Plan and identified numerous safety issues within Gallup. These safety issues included roadway and intersection deficiencies, excessive traffic congestion causing delays, and inadequate roadway lighting.
 
In response to the findings in the Gallup Area Transportation Safety Plan, the NMDOT expanded the study limits to include the area from Milepost 11 to Milepost 27 and launched the Route 66 Improved Study to examine crash history, congestion, delays, transportation gaps, and other safety-related issues as well as analyze multimodal accessibility and compile stakeholder information within the Route 66 corridor. Various alternatives were considered to address these issues, such as access management strategies, pedestrian and bicyclist access improvements, traffic calming opportunities, and other safety and operational improvements.  
 
The study team will define priorities for development and evaluate more specific, detailed treatments for each roadway section or issue. Once these priorities are defined and further funding is identified, preliminary design and environmental documentation can be prepared for selected projects.