Overpass work on fast track
Retailers don't expect major hit to business during Muoz repairs

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The pieces appear to be falling into place for a speedy reconstruction of the city's busy and troubled Muoz overpass.

Speedy is a very relative term here. Staff with the New Mexico Department of Transportation, which will oversee the work, expected the work to take as long as two years at first. Another plan, which breaks up the work into three distinct phases, has been proposed by project manager Morris Williams andcould shave up to five months off that time.

It may not sound like much to some, but to the retailers who'll be impacted by the disruptions to regular traffic the project portends and the city coffers fed by the taxes they collect it matters.

According to Williams, the Transportation Department's Planning and Specifications Division has accepted his plan for expediting the work and will begin its search for a contractor by late November. He's hoping for work to begin by February.

Just as important, maybe more, is news that the contract will include powerful financial incentives for finishing early and disincentives for finishing late.

That will be welcome news to city officials and the business owners who'll be impacted by the project. Both the public and private sector consider the incentives and disincentives critical for keeping the contractor on schedule.

According to Williams, the state is prepared to offer the contractor between $30,000 and $50,000 for every day it finishes early. But with extra reward comes extra risk. The state, he said, is also prepared to penalize the contractor just as much for every day past due.

"Incentives and disincentives are very important for managing the work, and that's on any project," Williams said.

Public and private sector representatives couldn't agree more. And both City Manager Eric Honeyfield and Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce Director Herb Mosher said the figures sound about right for a project this size.

Williams said the state's precise costs estimates were confidential until the project was officially opened to bidders. But he did say it could cost the state anywhere from $20 million to $30 million.

For that money, the city will get a completely overhauled Muoz overpass, complete with more lanes and a redesigned Interstate 40 interchange system with new on- and off-ramps and turning lanes. The aging overpass hasn't reached the point of posing a safety risk, city officials say, though it has begun showing its age, and has long ago had to handle more traffic than it was designed for.

Though it's a moment city and business representatives have been waiting for, they know they're in for some discomfort. Their hope is that the state can make that discomfort as minimal as possible.

"We're in for months and months of pain and severe impact on the business community," Honeyfield warned.

"We know there's going to be problems," agreed Mosher.

Williams doesn't deny it.

"We're going to work as hard as we can to mitigate those affects," he said, "but still, people are going to be affected by it."

The state originally planned on keeping at least two lanes of the overpass open during the life of the project. Williams' idea, subsequently taken up by the state, was to completely close off sections of the overpass and approach routes in three distinct phases. In addition to speeding up the project by five months, Williams says the plan could save the state anywhere from $1 million to $4 million.

Of the 20-or-so business owners he's spoken with, Mosher says they support the sped-up schedule, as long as the overpass itself connecting Highways 491 and 602 isn't closed for more than nine months and access to and from Interstate 40 remains available.

If the state can deliver on those conditions, Mosher said, the retailers don't expect the disruptions to take a big bite out of business.

Don Jefferson isn't especially worried, either.

"As of right now, I don't see that creating a lot of problems for us," said the property manager of the Ramada Inn on West Maloney Avenue, at the northwest corner of the overpass.

Jefferson says many of his customers come by way of Highway 491 from Colorado and that his regular customers from the west know to avoid the already congested Muoz interchange by getting off at Miyamura.

The soaring price of gas, says Jefferson, is hurting business more than anything.

As for local commuters, Williams said the three-phase plan will simplify their lives by demanding fewer re-routing changes. Under the old plan, he said, detour routes would have had to change daily. His way, drivers will have to adjust to new detours during the beginning of each of the three phases, but can with some exceptions expect the same for months thereafter.

"The distinct traffic phases will make it a lot easier for people traveling around the city to adapt," he said.

But the city is asking for more.

Honeyfield said it's offered the Department of Transportation some city land around the overpass to expedite the contractor's work on the condition that it finish the project in one year. He's still waiting for an answer.

The public, meanwhile, can get its questions answered Thursday afternoon at City Hall. Williams will be there at 6:30 to go over his three-phase plan; all are welcome.