CTLR COMPLAINS ABOUT EXTENSIVE RWY CLOSURES OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME AND THE HARDSHIPS OF CTLING TFC AROUND THESE CLOSURES.

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APPROX 2 YRS AGO; ALBUQUERQUE CITY OFFICIALS BEGAN AN AMBITIOUS PROJECT TO IMPROVE/EXPAND THE ALBUQUERQUE INTL ARPT. A CONSEQUENCE OF THIS PROJECT IS THAT RWY 17/35 IS OFTEN OUR PRIMARY RWY; BECAUSE OUR MAIN RWY; 8/26 IS CLOSED FOR MONTHS AT A TIME. BUT EVEN BEFORE THIS PROJECT HAD BEGUN; OUR NEW CTL TWR WAS BUILT JUST N OF OUR EXISTING TWR. THIS TWR LIES DIRECTLY BTWN THE OLD TWR AND THE NUMBERS OF RWY 17; AND ANY ACFT SMALLER THAN AN MLG CANNOT BE SEEN FROM THE (OLD) TWR WHEN IN POS. THIS SIT IS COMPOUNDED BY VARIOUS FACTORS: THE CONSTRUCTION PERIOD WILL EXTEND FOR ABOUT 2-3 MORE YRS; FORCING EXTENSIVE USE OF RWY 17. CONTRACT PROBS HAVE SET BACK OUR MOVING INTO THE NEW TWR COUNTLESS TIMES. THE CURRENT DATE TO MOVE IN IS SOMETIME IN 1995; BUT BASED ON PAST EXPERIENCE WITH THESE DATES; WE EXPECT TO BE IN MUCH LATER THAN THAT. OUR USE OF RWY 35 IS MINIMIZED BECAUSE OF NOISE AND SAFETY CONCERNS OF DEPARTING ACFT OVER THE DENSELY POPULATED AREAS N OF THE ARPT. 'ROLLING TKOFS' ARE NOT ALLOWED ON RWY 17; BECAUSE OF A BUSY CITY STREET JUST N OF THE RWY. THERE IS A BLAST FENCE BEHIND THE RWY; BUT IT DOES NOT PROTECT FROM THE BLAST OF ACFT TURNING ONTO THE RWY. A MOTORCYCLIST WAS ALMOST KILLED A FEW YRS AGO ON THIS STREET BY THE JET BLAST OF AN ACFT DOING A ROLLING TKOF. BECAUSE OF THE RWY LAYOUT; ABQ USES THE SAME RWY FOR LNDG AND DEPARTING ACFT. OFTEN; THE ONLY WAY TO GET A DEP OUT IS TO PUT A DEP IN POS AS SOON AS AN ARR TOUCHES DOWN; AND THEN GET HIM OUT BEFORE THE NEXT ARR. THIS IS A COMMON TECHNIQUE AT ARPTS WITHOUT PARALLEL RWYS; BUT MOST TWRS GET TO SEE THEIR RWY. THESE FACTORS ADD UP TO AN UNSAFE SIT AT ALBUQUERQUE; AND ONE THAT IS SCHEDULED TO CONTINUE FOR YRS; AND THE RESULTS COULD BE TRAGIC. FOR EXAMPLE; WE CANNOT TELL IF AN ACFT WAITING TO DEPART FROM THE END OF RWY 17 IS HOLDING SHORT OF THE RWY. WITH PROFESSIONAL PLTS THIS IS NOT A PROB; BUT NOVICE/STUDENT PLTS OFTEN GET CONFUSED; ESPECIALLY AT ARPTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. THE EVEN MORE TRAGIC POSSIBILITY EXISTS THAT A CTLR COULD FORGOT ABOUT AN ACFT IN POS. THE SAFETY AND VISIBILITY PROBS ON RWY 17 WOULD BE RESOLVED IF ABQ CTLRS WERE WORKING FROM THE NEW TWR; INSTEAD OF WORKING AROUND IT. APPARENTLY; MUCH OF THE DELAY IS BECAUSE OF CONTRACT PROBS WITH OUR ICSS COM SYS; HOWEVER; I BELIEVE THAT IF THE FAA WERE MOTIVATED BY THESE SAFETY FACTORS BROUGHT TO LIGHT; THAT MANY FURTHER DELAYS COULD BE AVOIDED. AS AN AIR TFC CTLR AT ABQ; I SEE THE RESULTS OF THIS PROB ON A DAILY BASIS; AND WILL SUBMIT FURTHER NASA FORMS FOR SPECIFIC UNSAFE OCCURRENCES AS I WITNESS/EXPERIENCE THEM.