The state Highway Department has selected a contractor for the next phase of the Highway 84/285 project while it is still in the process of purchasing land for the construction work.
Northern Mountain Constructors, an El Prado-based contractor, has been selected by the state Highway Department to begin work on the next phase of the Highway 84/285 project.
This phase of the construction project will go from the intersection of State Roads 106 and 399 (near the Dream Catcher Theater) to about three quarters of a mile south on Highway 84/285 into Arroyo Seco, according to Department North Regional Manager Steve Rodriguez. It will include repaving the highway, realignment of the road, moving the intersection about 1,500 feet south of where it is now and adding frontage roads along the highway that lead south into Arroyo Seco eventually toward Pojoaque, Rodriguez said. Work should begin in the next month or two, Rodriguez said. He said the Department had not yet met with Northern Mountain to discuss an exact start date, but according to a previous SUN report the work has to be completed 180 days after the contract is awarded.
According to Ron Trujillo, chief of the Department’s Plans, Specifications and Estimates bureau, Northern Mountain was notified that its bid was chosen Monday. The estimated cost of this phase of the project was $6.6 million, according to Department documents. However, Northern Mountain’s bid, which was the lowest of four, was $8,524,540, according to state documents.
Trujillo said the Department anticipated the bids would come in higher than the estimate because of the rising cost of oil and did have enough funds to pay for the project.
This is one phase of a larger construction project to renovate the highway between Española and Pojoaque, he said. Work has already been completed in Pojoaque. Construction along the highway between the Pojoaque Pueblo border and Arroyo Seco and in Española is scheduled to be bid Nov. 21. According to the Department’s bidding schedule, those two projects are flagged as being “high risk,” which means there is a good chance they will not be complete by that date.
Rodriguez said the Department is trying to avoid disturbing the property of local residents and business owners as much as possible, But local business owners have expressed concern and it is unclear which properties the Department is trying to purchase. Rafael Terrazas, who owns Automotive Collision Experts Inc., located just off the highway at 2 Sueno de Vigil in Arroyo Seco, said he was approached by Department officials to sell off approximately 3,100 feet off the front of his property for $3 a foot. Terrazas said he doesn’t want to sell the property just in case he decides to use it later to sell cars, which his zoning allows. He said he probably will sell it any way.
“Eventually we’re going to have to sell it because they’re going to get it anyway,” he said.
On Aug. 21 Charles Romero and Barbara Romero, who live at and own Romero’s Mobile Home Transport and Service at 18538 Highway 84/285 in Arroyo Seco, filed an objection to the Department’s condemning the property, according to court documents. On Aug. 8, a state Judicial District Court judge granted the Department a Preliminary Order of Entry, which would allow them to immediately enter and occupy the Romero’s property, according to court documents. The Romero’s claim that the Department obtained the order after failed attempts to purchase the property from them at a cost that the Romero’s did not find satisfactory, according to the court documents.
Road Work
Santa Fe County planned to begin constructing a low water crossing at the intersection of Arroyo Alamo West and El Sitio Road in La Puebla Wednesday (8/27). This work should be completed in three weeks, according to a County press release.
The intersection will be closed off completely and traffic will be detoured. Arroyo Alamo West will be closed off to local traffic and residents who live on the west side of the crossing will need to utilize El Sitio Road north to access their residences. El Sitio Road south of the low water crossing will be closed to local traffic.