Money is coming to the Manzano Expressway

August 19, 2009

United States Rep. Martin Heinrich said money might soon be available for safety improvements to the Manzano Expressway.

Heinrich spoke last night to the Rio Communities Association about his time in office, weighing in on local issues.

He said his top transportation priority for his congressional district is safety improvements for the Manzano Expressway, the roadway that runs from Rio Communities to Las Maravillas, El Cerro Mission and finally Meadow Lake.

“Having driven out to the schools on that road, it’s just dangerous. It really, really is,” he said.

He has pushed an $800,000 earmark for the road into a United States Department of Transportation bill, which has passed the House of Representatives and is working its way through the Senate.

“It looks good. It looks like something we’re going to be able to bank on,” he said.

Heinrich said he won’t help local government officials figure out where, when or how to build a hospital in Valencia County, but he will support the hospital once it’s built.

“If you decide to build a hospital here – and I know it’s in litigation and all of that – if you decide to build a hospital here, I would be happy to work to fund that hospital, to make sure it has the resources that it needs, to make sure that it has access to any benefits that the federal government will provide to local emergency care,” he said. “But I can’t wade in and tell you how to make local decisions.”

Once a decision is made, he’ll support the decision, he said.

That comment drew fire from Alice Torwirt, a hospital supporter, who said the decision was already made, with the county having designated a site for construction and provided for the operation of a hospital with a voter-approved mill levy.

Heinrich lauded the coming Signet Solar manufacturing plant to the Rancho Cielo industrial, commercial and residential development west of Los Chavez.

“We have a real opportunity to add a lot of jobs in New Mexico in the clean energy field,” he said. “We’ve seen some of that already with the wind project on the other side of the mountains and Signet moving into Valencia County.”

Signet has not yet broken ground, but Belen Mayor Ronnie Torres has said he expects the company will do so at the same time work begins on the North Belen interchange, which will provide access to the west side of Interstate 25, where Signet will be located.

Not only does Heinrich support Signet, he wants to increase manufacturing and production of clean energy in Central New Mexico, both for jobs and powering homes and businesses.

He promised Rio Communities residents that he would see if his office can do anything to make sewer improvements to Rio Communities, where one resident claimed nearly 4,000 homes use septic systems.

“It’s something we’d be interested in working on in terms of appropriations amendments,” he said.

While the hot debate in Washington is healthcare, Heinrich wasn’t at the meeting to address the issue. It popped up in questions and Heinrich answered those questions.

He acknowledged he continues to support the public option, in which the government will provide an insurance option that will compete with private insurance.

Some in President Barack Obama’s administration over the weekend suggested the public option wasn’t an essential part of healthcare reform.

“I think the president was basically thinking out loud and expressing a little compromise, and it got picked up as these things do and got spun into a major change,” he said. “In the last two days his comments have been very strong.”

He said healthcare reform is intended to reduce medical costs, while allowing Americans to continue to choose their own hospital, doctor and insurance provider.

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Posted in: Infrastructure