to advancement. "Conflict areas are going to be the major bottlenecks within this (progress)," she said, though she still has "a lot of hope" for South Sudan. The country gained its independence from Sudan in 2011 and experienced two years of peace, which was then disrupted by internal conflict and civil war.

"They've been very successful in their Guinea worm eradication efforts," she explained. Based on this scaffold of achievement, there's an opportunity to build and accomplish more.

As Jacobson sees it, generating "the political will to move this forward and put resources and time into it" is key to the eradication of tropical diseases.

Though this may appear an unachievable or difficult goal, in fact, it's an easy "win" since the diseases are all treatable and preventable, she said. Inin the week since the extra lane opened, there have already been two accidents in the merge area.

Big, white slanted arrows tell drivers it's time to get over, but some drivers still find themselves stuck where the lane ends.

The Department of Transportation reminds drivers it's OK to stop or pull over, as opposed to forcing yourself into traffic.

"If for some reason you get caught in that lane that goes away there is plenty of recovery time in the shoulder. You don't have to force that movement. Be alert that lane does go away as you get to Jefferson," says Phil Gallegos of the New Mexico Department of Transportation.

Last week the freeway was shut down at I-25 and Jefferson after two separate crashes in the same area.

The purpose of