Overpass closure focus of meeting

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Local business owners upset with the state's decision to close Muñoz Overpass next month to finish the busy thoroughfare's multi-million dollar reconstruction will have one last chance to vent before work resumes after New Years Day. They're meeting inside the City Council Chambers for a public meeting this evening at 6:30.

They know it's too late for the state to reconsider. As New Mexico Transportation Department Project Manager Morris Williams put it in no uncertain terms Friday, "we're closing the road Jan. 2 and going to work."

But that doesn't mean they're finished telling the state how they feel about it.

"We know we can't change their minds this late," said Virgie's Restaurant owner Charlie Chavez, who's been leading the opposition to the closure. "It's just to let them know that we're not happy."

"We don't want to sit back and take it," he said. "We're going to go down fighting."

To finish the third and final phase of the $20 million project rebuilding the bridge that crosses the train tracks and the Rio Puerco the state plans to close all four lanes for seven months beginning Jan 2. With the busiest thoroughfare connecting the north and south sides of the city cut off, restaurant and shop owners are worried about the business they'll lose.

They've already had a taste of what's to come. During first and second phases of the project earlier this year, one restaurant reported losing as much as a quarter of its usual business because of the disrupted flow of traffic. Another shop even started resorting to layoffs to cope. Chavez said he saw as much as 14 percent of his business disappear during the worst months.

And that was with two lanes across the overpass still open. When the state closes all four lanes next month, Chavez is expecting even worse. While the state made sure to reopen all the lanes for the busy Christmas shopping season, the lanes will be closed for the equally some say even more busy tax season that follows.

"I'm worried," Chavez said. "Do you think I'd be going through all this if I wasn't?"

In mid-November, not yet resigned to defeat, Chavez presented the City Council with a petition bearing some 750 names asking it to keep at least two lanes open. The council pointed out it had no official control over the state project. Williams, in turn, added that state had made up its mind a long time ago. Changing course now, he said, would mean 18 more months of work instead of seven, at least an extra $4 million, and the risk of losing a $5 million federal grant.

Williams said at the time that he would consider pushing back the start of the third phase a few months, to let businesses enjoy unrestricted traffic during the lucrative tax season, and even a test closure prior to Jan. 2 to get a better idea of what was in store.

Neither will happen. If a test closure were to cause any accidents, the company the state hired for the project, A.S. Horner, would be responsible. Williams said there was no way he could convince the company to assume the risk.

In an open letter to the "citizens, businessmen and businesswomen of Gallup," Chavez blames the city, state and contractor for not conducting a traffic study before work began in February; however, Williams insists the state did in fact conduct a traffic study, and that it's using the results to plan the detours.

Chavez also blames them for not doing enough to find out which option the public preferred: the seven-month version with no lanes open, or the 18-month version with two lanes open.

"Neither the city nor the chamber sent out any notices to businesses or Gallup citizens for our input," his letter reads.

Despite what Chavez's letter claims, the state had several meetings before starting the project, including a public hearing in October 2005, soliciting the public's input on which of the two options it preferred. The small crowd that gathered unanimously chose the seven-month version by a show of hands.

"We've done all the meetings we were required for the design, plus we did extra meetings," Williams said.

"I think the state did its due diligence and then some," City Manager Eric Honeyfield agreed.

While the city manager agrees with those who voted to close all four lanes, he knows, as they do, that neither option offers the city, its citizens and its business owners an ideal situation. And they all agree that the aging overpass needs the work.

"There's three things you can always count on," Honeyfield said, "death, taxes, and road work."