New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson Approves Six Additional Road Projects to be Funded by Stimulus Savings

September 30, 2009 -- SANTA FE -- New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson today announced the approval of six additional road projects to be funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The pavement preservation projects will be funded with $24 million in surplus money from other stimulus funded highway projects that came in below estimates.

“This is a great way to pump the cost-savings from these projects back into our roads,” Governor Bill Richardson said. “It’s a win-win for our citizens and I applaud the New Mexico Department of Transportation for their proactive approach that will provide the state with an additional $24 million in road projects."

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“Because several of our road projects came in under our original estimates, the Department was left with additional money,” said Transportation Secretary Gary L.J. Girón. “In order to ensure as many people as possible would gain from this, we divided the surplus between each of the six transportation districts, providing $4 million for each project and covering 84 miles of road."

The following projects were approved throughout the state:

• I-10 from mile marker 116-124 in Dona Ana County
• N.M. 206 from mile marker 41-68 in Roosevelt County
• I-25 from mile marker 184-202 in Valencia County
• U.S. 64 from mile marker 404-417 in Union County
• U.S. 491 from mile marker 77-90 (northbound) in San Juan County
• I-40 from mile marker 40-45 in McKinley County

The McKinley County project will go out to bid in November with construction anticipated in March 2010. The remaining projects are expected to be awarded within the next six months.

To date, the Department of Transportation has received a total of approximately $280 million in Recovery Act funding that has been divided between 15 highway projects, 71 local road projects and approximately 80 transit projects.

Source: New Mexico Governor