Avenida Azul has no paved shoulder. Anyone walking it shares the asphalt with traffic, and the road's curves and steep road cuts give drivers only short sight lines to spot a pedestrian. According to the Eldorado Community Improvement Association's November 2026 Vistas newsletter, a large number of people still walk Azul, along it and between the two greenbelt trails it connects.
That stretch is next in line. Santa Fe County plans to finish a paved hike-bike trail along Avenida Azul, from Avenida Vista Grande to Encantado, in the first half of 2027. Over the past year the design has come to look much like the paths Eldorado already has. It sits inside the County's land, crosses the arroyo at grade instead of bridging it, and joins a network the homeowners association is now budgeting to maintain for the long term.
What the County Is Building
The County's August 2026 Public Works projects report lists the job as District 5, Project #7720, managed by Dan Anderson.
| Item | As listed |
|---|---|
| Project | Avenida Azul Eldorado Trail, #7720 |
| Route | Avenida Vista Grande to Encantado Loop |
| Length | 1.15 miles, multi-use |
| Project budget | $130,000 |
| Status, August 2026 | Under design, 90% complete |
| Design completion target, as of August | September 30, 2026 |
| Construction target | First half of 2027, per ECIA's November newsletter |
The project has been on the list for years. ECIA asked the County to put it on its infrastructure capital improvement plan in 2020, after hearing many homeowner requests for a trail on Azul. Several years ago the State Legislature awarded the County an initial capital outlay grant for it. ECIA's newsletter credits the current timing to a recently passed state law that requires capital outlay funds to be spent or encumbered by the end of 2026. It says County Public Works has worked to finalize the plan so the money isn't lost. The legislature's 2026 capital outlay changes passed as House Bill 247, signed March 9, 2026.
Why the Path Fits Without Taking Anyone's Yard
Eldorado's roads are laid out differently from most subdivisions. ECIA explains that the subdivision has no road rights-of-way. Santa Fe County owns large road tracts that are much wider than the paved roads running through them, and the new trail will sit almost entirely inside the County's tract on Azul.
The County's contract records show what "almost entirely" means in practice. In December 2025, Amendment No. 1 to the engineering agreement added plats, legal descriptions and survey work for trail easements, and the affected properties included Gallina Park tracts. In April 2026, Amendment No. 2 revised the alignment and profile near Camerada Road, where the earlier route had crossed onto private property and a septic leach field. The same amendment added a concrete cutoff wall between stations 72+00 and 76+00, plus related drainage design. The route was shifted to stay off private ground.
The Bridge That Became a Low-Water Crossing
The largest change is at the big arroyo crossing on the Gallina Park greenbelt. An earlier concept put a bridge over it. ECIA reports that the current plan uses low-water crossings instead, like the ones on other hike-bike trails where they cross greenbelts.
ECIA describes the new trail as designed like the County's other hike-bike trails in Eldorado, and paved like them. Someone who already walks the dog across a greenbelt dip on another path will find the same kind of crossing here.
Where Azul Plugs In
The trail adds to an existing network. ECIA's hike and bike paths page counts about 13 miles of paths beside Eldorado's main roads. ECIA staff maintain them, motorized vehicles aren't allowed, and the speed limit is 10 mph. The paths appear as blue lines labeled "Multi-Use Trails" on the ECIA Greenbelts and Hike/Bike map.
Over the past decade the association has added to and resurfaced the system one road at a time. ECIA's 2017 annual report listed Avenida Eldorado and part of Avenida Vista Grande in the network and noted a goal of paving the dirt section of the Avenida de Compadres path. The 2019 report recorded seal-coating along Avenida Torreon, Avenida Del Monte Alto and Avenida Casa del Oro, plus County-installed asphalt aprons where paths meet dirt roads.
Behind the paths are the greenbelts. ECIA's greenbelts page puts them at 987 acres, assembled from 130 acres purchased in 1988 and 857 acres transferred in 1996. The Azul segment links two greenbelt trails that people now reach by walking in the road.
The Association Is Budgeting for Trails as Long-Term Infrastructure
The same November newsletter that announced the Azul plans reports a change in how ECIA pays for trail upkeep. The draft 2027 budget, posted for member comment, moves hike/bike trail maintenance from an operating expense to a reserve expense, as the new reserve study recommended, and raises reserve contributions to match. The draft includes no assessment increase. After hearing from its budget town hall and taking member comments, the Board plans a final vote at its November meeting. That meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 5:30 PM on Zoom.
While the County builds the new paved mile, the association is preparing to care for paths over the decades they last, not one year's budget at a time. The 2027 budget remains a draft until the Board votes, and the full document is posted on the ECIA site.
Thursday, Nov. 19, Belongs to the Trails
On the third Thursday of November, two trail events fall on the same day:
- 8 AM: Eldorado Trail Volunteers meet at the Maintenance Shop, as they do every third Thursday.
- 5:30 PM: Santa Fe County representatives present the Avenida Azul plans at an informational meeting by videoconference. ECIA will post the link on its website and send it by eblast. Questions can go to Dan Anderson at Santa Fe County Public Works, [email protected].
For people who would rather walk than meet, the Eldorado Hikers leave every Tuesday at 8:30 AM from the northeast corner of the Community Center parking lot.
The meeting is the place to ask about details that matter to someone who walks Azul every day: where the low-water crossings sit at Gallina Park, how the trail meets Avenida Vista Grande at one end and Encantado at the other, and how construction in the first half of 2027 will affect the road while crews are working.
If you're thinking about what improvements like the Azul trail mean for your own Eldorado home, Paige Cochran is glad to talk it through and prepare a free home valuation for you.
