Font Resize
LAS CRUCES - The construction on West Brown Road wasn't so bad that Romelia Enriquez couldn't finagle her way to her accountant's office last spring. But when she returned, in November, to visit an elderly friend, she had to wonder why it was taking so long to tear up the downtown road - along with Williams Lane and Organview Avenue, nearby.
"It was horrendous - huge, big piles of dirt someone had graded," Enriquez said. "She had to climb over this mound to get to the sidewalk to the house, an elderly woman with an elderly husband, to get out of that mess."
Enriquez encouraged her friend to be brave: "I said, 'Well, it's an adventure."
End is in sight
And it's an adventure that will be over soon. The city has promised that the three roads, which have been ripped up for more than eight months as part of a flood-control project costing just over $1 million, will be back to normal - and better than ever - by February.
"It's a project that's been going on for five to seven years," said city public works director Mike Johnson. "It's a reconstruction of the streets and installation of flood control underground, storm drains, as part of the reconstruction of our inner-city areas."
The current project is in its fifth phase, with phases six and seven (which focus on Alameda Boulevard) already funded by the city council. Once this phase is done, storm drains will channel rain water west, to Valley Drive, and ultimately to Burn Lake.
"Before, the water would
Why is it taking so long?
As anyone who's tried to dig in and repair old plumbing or wiring knows, "when you open up the roads and find what's under that road, you find new problems that have to be dealt with," said Johnson, who noted that no one from the area had called to report problems with accessibility or general grief from the construction.
"At this point, the project is on schedule," Johnson said. "And when it's done, it's a much improved area. Flooding is reduced. I think most people will find it's worth the wait, when it's all said and done."
"It's such a slow process because you have to leave the old utilities working while you're putting in the new," said Jack Hancock, an electrician with RT Electric. "When it rains, everything has to shut down. And (general contractors Smith & Aguirre) are putting in all new utilities - sewer, gas, water, everything at the same time. The residents, for the most part, are very understanding."
Street lights are projected to be done by this week, with paving finished in two to three weeks, he said.
Once it's done, residents "can watch (the rain) from the porch and not get their feet wet," Hancock said. "And that's new for this neighborhood."
Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462
