Typical for traffic to be bad approaching Bernalillo via 550 on any given day, Balloon Fiesta might magnify it a bit but not overly so. Given the choice I would still use 550 but nothing wrong with using 491 either. They have been totally redoing 550 through Bernalillo for several years and it has been a traffic nightmare regardless of events taking place in the area, it finally appears they are on the tail end of this project although one never knows for certain. Have a safe and comfortable voyage home, as usual there are spots on I-40 where there are backups due to road/bridge improvements.
