Roadwork starting on Muñoz Overpass

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — If the small crowd inside the conference room of the Best Western Inn & Suites Monday evening was any sign, locals are reconciled to the added congestion they're sure to face when construction crews begin closing down lanes across and leading to Muñoz overpass next week.

The half-dozen people who showed up for the last public hearing the New Mexico Department of Transportation hosted before work on the nearly $20 million overhaul of the overpass begins next week may be too small to judge the general mood of an entire city. But by their silence, and the occasional practical question about when and where, they seemed to accept at least one thing: that the closed roads and detours will be worth the trouble if the state can deliver a less congestion-prone overpass by the end of it all.

Designed and funded through the Transportation Department, the plans over five years in the making call for a completely redesigned interchange system with Interstate 40 on the north end of the overpass and with Aztec Avenue on the south end. Although the bridge over the interstate once reborn will have extra holding bays and turning lanes to give through traffic a quick pass, the part over the railway tracks will remain a four-lane stretch.

One lady in the audience said it takes her up to an hour some days to make it across the overpass on her way to her job at Wal-Mart. She expected the construction to cause even more problems, but welcomed the promise of a new overpass.

"It gets bad now," said Rod Whittaker, who hauls gas in and out of town on a daily basis, of the traffic jams that build up on and around the overpass.

Just as city and state officials have warned, he knows traffic will only get worse before it gets better. But if it means an easier drive across the overpass when all's done, he won't mind.

"A person's got to look at the future instead of the past," he said.

The state will begin by closing off half the lanes across the overpass, leaving one lane headed in each direction, as well as a stretch of Aztec and Maloney Avenues west of the overpass. In June, it will close off the eastern side of the overpass and reopen the west. Finally, beginning in January of 2007, it will close off all four lanes of the bridge across the railroad tracks until mid-August.

The City Council and the Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce gave the state their blessing on the condition it levy stiff penalties against the contractor for finishing late and award generous bonuses for finishing early.

The state obliged. According to Transportation Department project manager Morris Williams, the contractor, A.S. Horner of Albuquerque, will face tens of thousands of dollars in fines for every day the project is overdue. On the other hand, he said, the company can expect to earn up to $750,000 above its $19.9 million contract for finishing early.

The company has a good reputation for finishing ahead of schedule. According to Williams, it collected all the bonuses on its recent work renovating Louisiana Boulevard in Albuquerque.

For the city and the chamber, the sooner the project ends, the sooner local business can return to normal.

Williams doesn't downplay the disruptions the project will surely cause. His staff will be watching what happens to local traffic and adjusting accordingly throughout. He already expects he'll have to add new traffic lights to the Miyamura overpass to handle the extra traffic surely to come its way when all four lanes of Muñoz close down in 2007.

"It'll be worth it when it's all done," Williams said. "This work's been needed for a long time."

The Transportation Department will be keeping locals up to speed on the project with ongoing public meetings each month and a Web site Williams expected to be up and running in March.