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If traffic jams at Paseo del Norte and I-25 have you fed up, you'll have a chance today to see what the state plans to do about the third-busiest interchange in Albuquerque.

The interchange gets more than 100,000 vehicles per day, said Larry Velasquez, district engineer with the New Mexico Department of Transportation District Three. "Those who travel this interchange on a daily basis can see the congestion firsthand."

Four plans for untying the commuting knot are up for public review tonight.

They were culled from 20 original plans and include the possibility of moving cars through without traffic lights, similar to the Big-I, said Terrence Doyle, an assistant district engineer for the department.

If the project was fully funded, at $110 million to $160 million, it could take 18 months to build, Velasquez said.

But only $20 million is available for next year, he said. That means it's likely the project would progress in phases over four to six years.

Work is scheduled to begin in two to three years and would be done in such a way that each phase independently improves traffic flow.

An upgrade sounds good to Liz Alvarez.

The 34-year-old Albuquerque resident has driven through the interchange on her way to work for three years.

"It's slow every day," she said. "I don't like it."

Velasquez warned the proposed interchange work is just the start to reducing traffic congestion in that part of the city.

"While the reconstruction of the interchange will provide some immediate benefit to congestion relief in the area, it won't be the ultimate solution," he said. "I think we'll end up getting the best solution when we rebuild or reconstruct portions of I-25 between Comanche and Paseo del Norte."

That work wouldn't start at least until 2015 and could involve rebuilding the Montgomery Boulevard Northeast/I-25 interchange.

"On any given day, you see the congestion; it backs up down to San Antonio," he said. "It's a significant problem."

Doyle said the construction plans were made to handle traffic estimates to the year 2030.

A big factor in analyzing the plans is Paseo del Norte's role as a major route to the city's West Side.

With the area's growth, it has created heavy traffic - and will create more - heading to and from I-25 along Paseo del Norte, Doyle said.

That means traffic west of I-25 along Paseo del Norte might be handled differently than traffic east of the highway.

Whatever approach is taken, one challenge of the project would be its success.

"We only have so many river crossings," Doyle said. "The more improvements we do to the intersection . . . the more usage of it grows."

The solution, he said, lies in making traffic, regardless of its amount, flow the best possible way at the interchange.