Los Lunas making progress on infrastructure projects

LOS LUNAS —The Los Lunas Village Council recently approved and submitted its Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan, which contains various projects to be considered for legislative capital outlay funding.

The highest priority item on the list is the Interstate 25 interchange and bridge construction project. The goal is to provide additional access to I-25 and help alleviate congestion from Los Lunas Main Street.

“When completed, this project will extend from I-25 to Highway 47, and will include a full interchange at Morris Road, a river bridge, and intersections at Sichler Road, Highway 314, Edeal Rd. and Highway 47,” the village’s website states. “Phase one of this project is fully funded, and will include a full width interchange, river bridge and intersections with one lane of travel in each direction between, along with a multi-use pedestrian and bicycle path. Phase 2 will add an additional lane of travel in each direction.”

The total project cost is more than $220 million and, to date, the village has acquired almost $166 million in federal, state and local funds. The amount not yet funded is about $55 million, which would go toward phase two of the project.

Los Lunas Public Works Director Michael Jaramillo said there are only a few, small remaining tasks that need to be completed before going out to bid. These tasks include finishing up some certifications to address railroad crossing, environmental impact and right-of-way.

“If everything goes well, then we’re hoping that we can obtain some bids and maybe be at the council in December for approval of the bid,” said Jaramillo.

The village was aiming to begin construction this fall, but “a variety of small delays with final approvals on certifications have pushed the possible start date back a bit.” Jaramillo said this is due to the size of the project, as a project of this scale has a lot of details that need to be carefully addressed to ensure everything is done correctly, which has pushed the anticipated construction start date to early 2025.

“Hopefully, in January people will be able to start seeing some equipment out there,” he said.

Hospital road improvement project

The next highest-priority infrastructure project is the hospital road improvement project dedicated to extending Pamilla Road and accompanying utilities to the hospital site.

In April, it was announced that the Valencia County hospital would be built in Los Lunas. The planned 40,000-square foot, single-story facility will be located at the northeast corner of Main Street and Sand Sage Road in the village.

“There needs to be a couple of small changes within the water, sewer and roadway connection,” said Jaramillo. “There’s some utilities off Sand Sage, however, for a hospital, there should be some type of fireloop line to improve the efficiency of water distribution for a facility of this type.”

There is no funding in place for this project yet, but Jaramillo said the village is working on moving some money into the preliminary planning stages for these improvements.

“It’s a priority, and we’re trying to meet the timeline of the hospital,” he said. “We’re going to be presenting it to the Legislature this year.”

Central Rail Park utility extension project

The third item on the list is the Central Rail Park utility extension project.

Los Lunas is in the center of two large major networks — I-40 and I-25 — so the Central Rail Park on the west side of Los Lunas has been a focal point for upcoming industrial and manufacturing jobs.

No businesses have yet set up shop there, but to be prepared for future industrial manufacturing facilities, Jaramillo said the village needs to extend water and sewer utilities to the area.

“We need to keep moving that project forward, because I think that’s one thing that hurts us, not having active utilities there,” he said. “We’ve been able to get some grants to help us with our extension process and we are moving forward with a lot of the utilities.”

The village has secured about $4.1 million for this so far, mainly through federal funds as well as some local money.

Aquatic center

No. 4 on this year’s ICIP list is an aquatic center, which has a lot of community interest behind it.

In May, consultants working with the village to develop a plan for a new aquatic center presented the final report on the feasibility of the project. The consultants presented two design options and discussed estimated costs to design, build and operate an aquatic center.

Now that the feasibility study has been completed, the next step is to seek funding. The village estimates the total cost to be about $20 million dollars.

“I think that because of the boulevard project, (the aquatic center) got put on hold a little bit because of the movement of money,” said Jaramillo. “I do believe that the council still has it as a top priority; we just need to figure out again how we’re going to fund it.”

Sun Ranch Village Road and N.M. 6 intersection improvements

The fifth item on the list is Sun Ranch Village Road and N.M. 6 (Main Street) intersection improvements.

Jaramillo said this intersection is difficult to get in and out of, and as growth continues to happen, it’s going to become even harder. Knowing this, the village partnered with the New Mexico Department of Transportation to work on a solution, as NMDOT owns N.M. 6.

In June, they presented six options for intersection improvements to the village council.

Option three was approved by the council because it was the preferred option of NMDOT, village staff and local businesses in the area.

“We had a stakeholders group that consisted of all the businesses within that region because that impacts them and what they can or cannot do,” Jaramillo said. “After it was all said and done, (option 3) was the one that we could all work together on and accept that would help traffic movement within that corridor.”

Option 3 reroutes Sun Ranch Village Road northbound left, turning movement west down Champions Road to access N.M. 6 as a northbound left-turn approach at Desert Willow Road. The median from the I-25 southbound on/off ramp would be altered to prohibit a northbound left turn from Sun Ranch Village Road while maintaining westbound left access into Sun Ranch Village Road from N.M. 6. The NM 6/Sun Ranch Village Road intersection would be signalized and combine its signal operation with the Desert Willow Road/N.M. 6 intersection, allowing the two intersections to function together.

Jaramillo said he is currently waiting on the design agreement to be approved by NMDOT. Once that’s done, he can begin working with engineers to start the design phase and “we would hopefully be in construction in December 2025.”