Concrete Contractors in Barelas, NM

Barelas sits just south of Downtown Albuquerque, in a triangle formed by Coal Avenue, the BNSF tracks and the Rio Grande, and it gives concrete contractors plenty of older homes to work on. The settlement was formally established in 1662 and is considered the oldest neighborhood in the city, though it stayed lightly populated until the 1800s. Most of it became part of Albuquerque in 1891.

The railroad built the houses

When the railroad arrived in 1880, the Santa Fe Railway Shops brought jobs and rapid growth to Barelas. By 1900 the neighborhood had more than 1,200 residents. The homes built for those families, and the ones that followed through the early 1900s, make up much of the housing here today.

For concrete, that means old walks, steps and slabs, often poured and repaired by hand over the decades. When we replace them, we bring them up to modern standards: proper base, correct thickness, steel where it is needed, and joints cut so cracks happen in straight lines instead of across the middle of a panel.

Hard times and a revival

Wikipedia traces a rough middle century. The 1937 realignment of Route 66 and the 1970 closure of the railroad shops, which cost about 1,500 jobs, hurt the local economy, and a 1974 closure of part of Fourth Street for Civic Plaza cut the neighborhood's main artery. Since the late 1980s, demand for housing near downtown has brought a slow revival, helped by the National Hispanic Cultural Center, which opened in 2000.

That revival shows up as homeowners fixing up older houses. Common concrete requests include:

• New front walks and steps to replace broken or sunken originals
• Driveways and parking pads, since many older lots never had one
• Back patios for houses that only had dirt or gravel behind them
• Repairs where a full tear-out is not needed

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Close to the river

Barelas runs right to the Rio Grande. Lots near the river tend to be flatter and lower, and water does not always drain away quickly after a storm. We set every slab to fall away from the house and, on very flat lots, look for a place for water to go: the street, a gravel strip or a shallow swale. Where old concrete has settled, the cause is often water sitting under it for years.

Fourth Street's historic district

The commercial strip along Fourth Street was listed on the National Register in 1997 as the Barelas-South Fourth Street Historic District, and Fourth Street was part of Route 66 from 1926. Homes near that corridor sit in a neighborhood with real history, so we suggest finishes that suit older houses: simple broom or hand-troweled concrete, tooled edges and soft colors rather than bold patterns at the front.

Budget-friendly choices

We know many Barelas homeowners are fixing a house a piece at a time. We can phase the work: front walk and steps first, driveway later, patio after that. Each phase is planned so the next one ties in cleanly. We also tell you when repair is enough, and when replacing a section will cost less over time than patching it again.

South of Bridge

Wikipedia notes that south of Bridge Boulevard the neighborhood is mostly industrial. Our focus in Barelas is the residential blocks to the north, though we also pour pads and walks for small shops and buildings.

City rules at the street

Most of Barelas has been inside Albuquerque since 1891, so a new curb cut, a driveway approach or a public sidewalk panel falls under the City of Albuquerque rather than the county. Many lots here have older, narrow frontages, which makes the curb-cut question come up often when an owner wants a driveway. We confirm what the city requires for your address before anything is scheduled, and we show street work as its own line on the estimate.