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Before Paseo del Norte became Paseo del Norte, it went by a simpler name: Los Angeles Avenue.

In the interest of accuracy, I'd like to change it back.

Paseo, particularly between I-25 and Jefferson Boulevard, is Los Angeles - a gritty, crowded, death-defying white-knuckler of blacktop that would need to improve 100 percent before you'd call it terrible.

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez recently announced a plan to relieve some stress on Paseo's ugly I-25-to-Jefferson corridor, and it's a noble effort. But let's get serious: His is a $750,000 splint on a $250 million multiple fracture.

In the meantime, 170,000 Hopalong Cassidys fume at the intersection. That's just today. What about a year from now? Two? Three? It'll make the old Big-I look like a German autobahn.

"People are going to die on this thing," Chavez says.

Paseo - the key east-west arterial in northern Albuquerque and the best (ha!) way to reach Rio Rancho and Paradise Hills - needs a massive fix on par with the mammoth Big-I reconstruction project earlier this decade.

Cost guesstimate? State Transportation Department Secretary Rhonda Faught says about $250 million. It could be more.

Faught says her department knows all too well about the problems at the sludgy interchange and is reviewing three design options for a rebuilding project, but acknowledges it might be years before a fix becomes reality.

Why?

Everybody says the holdup is money. And that's true. But it's deeper, or slower, than that. The real holdup is priorities and politics.

Our tour guide here is state Rep. Dan Silva, an Albuquerque Democrat and the longtime chairman of the House Transportation Committee. Silva does not scoff at those - OK, me - who would call for an immediate Marshall Plan for Paseo. And he is not pointing fingers at anyone.

Instead, the courtly Silva gently explains the delicate, intricate dance of transportation funding in New Mexico, a state that has never understood that what's good for Albuquerque (where a huge hunk of the population lives) also is good for Artesia, Deming, Farmington and Clovis (where a good hunk of the legislative power base resides).

"I could put in a bill request to find $200 million from a tax increase or from the general fund," says Silva. "But the trouble is, when you look at transportation issues, you have to look at it statewide.

"I cannot pass a bill to do Paseo because there are so many needs statewide," he continues. "For me to do Paseo in the next year or two . . . if Paseo costs $200 million, I'd have to come up with a plan for $600 (million) to $700 million statewide."

And there you have it - or, part of it. Two hundred mil is a colossal chunk of change, and Albuquerque-Rio Rancho aren't going to get it if Artesia, Deming, Farmington and Clovis don't get theirs, too.

As Chavez surveys the legislative ladder, he takes it up a rung.

"I think," he says, "it's held up in the fourth floor of the Roundhouse."

Which means the Governor's Office.

"Of course, he's going to say that," Faught fires back. "That's his entire priority. But we have another responsibility, maintaining a transportation system for the entire state. Albuquerque is a major part of the state; we recognize that. We also have a responsibility outside of Albuquerque. This particular road is just part of the issue."

Faught also notes that Albuquerque hasn't exactly been left out of the equation, not with rebuilds at the Big-I and I-40/Coors done in the past several years.

The elephant in the room - or on the road - is the U.S. government, which is responsible for I-25 and would be vital to making a new Paseo happen. Silva points out that funding for big projects in recent years has been hurt by a lack of federal highway funds.

"The problem is, the feds are not giving us the money," Silva says, noting a general downturn in federal highway spending since the salad days of the 1990s.

"It's the money," he says a few moments later. "I could do it if I had the money - hire an engineer. You could do it."

I'd love to. I really would. Because I love Albuquerque. I loathe L.A.