Good news for fans of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The road to the Isleta Amphitheater has re-opened after a fighter jet crashed near the airport a week and a half ago. But Navy teams have more work to do on cleaning up the debris and removing contaminants from the area.
Albuquerque’s Office of Emergency Management announced Friday that University Boulevard will reopen before an evening show by the rock band.
A Brooks & Dunn concert last week saw detours and delays due to the closure.
The street, which also leads to the Mesa del Sol neighborhood, had been closed since a fighter jet — a Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II — crashed on May 28 near Albuquerque International Sunport.
Since then, workers have been recovering the aircraft and removing contaminants from the site, according to a Navy press release.
Read more about the crash here.
Local first responders and Kirtland Air Force Base personnel responded to the crash, secured the site, and started the investigative process, 377th Air Base Commander Col. Michael Power said Thursday.
Members of the Navy Region Southeast On-scene Coordinator program, based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., arrived June 1 to begin recovering and removing the aircraft wreckage.
The coordinator program’s mission is to handle all Navy and Marine Corps incidents that may have an environmental or public health impact, making sure the restoration process is aligned with environmental laws.
Environmental restoration of the area includes bringing in specialists to determine any impacts surrounding the mishap site, the release states.
“As we remove debris from the mishap area, we are sampling soil and testing for contaminants that will guide our remediation of the area,” said John Baxter, federal on-scene coordinator. “Our goal is to return the property as close to its original condition as we can.”
The Navy said it does not know when the environmental restoration work will be complete.
“I am extremely grateful for all the fantastic work that the Air Force Interim Safety Board accomplished ahead of the official Aircraft Mishap Board,” said Navy Capt. Daniel E. Kitts, a senior member of the board. “We were able to form a highly effective Navy-Air Force team to smoothly transition the responsibilities of investigating this mishap.”
The pilot survived the crash, military officials say. Further information on his condition was unavailable Friday.