Zamora: Governments to seek Tome bridge

August 20, 2009

Valencia County Manager Eric Zamora said last night that the steering committee for the Los Lunas bridge and interchange study has decided to pursue a single option for an interchange and bridge, discounting all other recommendations and options.

The committee evaluated nine ways of relieving congestion on Main Street in Los Lunas, and decided to pursue Option 8, the same solution proposed almost nine years ago: an interchange and bridge somewhere between Miller and Morris roads south of Los Lunas.

“Now the steering committee is recommending pursuit of Option 8 as the preferred alignment,” Zamora said. “This is the same alignment that was discussed seven, eight, nine, ten years ago. The previous commission had denied a request for and opposed a river crossing in this location because it takes it essentially to the east side of the river to the Tome area.”

The commissioners listening to Zamora chuckled, quickly realizing the added weight the committee’s decision will put on the commission.

The committee making the decision includes representatives from the Village of Los Lunas, the New Mexico Department of Transportation, the Mid-Region Council of Governments, Valencia County and other governments and public agencies.

“We’re reviving that old project,” Zamora said.

“So they’re pretty much excluding everything but eight?” Commission Chairman Pedro Rael asked.

“It’s the most viable alternative,” Zamora affirmed.

At the same time that the steering committee has been working on the project, the study has been consulting with a citizens advisory committee (CAC) made up of citizens from the areas that might be affected, including several who were opposed to the proposed bridge location nine years ago.

Bob Gosticha, a member of the CAC who was present for Zamora’s discussion with commissioners, said he hasn’t seen the document showing proposed options and was disappointed to find out that an option had, for all intents and purposes, been chosen by the steering committee.

“I’m a little surprised to hear that what’s supposed to be the very infancy of this study, that we already have a preferred option,” he said. “We were told it’s a very open thing, that you have to bring the information back from your communities and based on those things we’re going to eventually arrive at a decision. But now I’m hearing that it’s already picked, ‘Number 8. Forget it.’”

With a hearty laugh, Gosticha said he no longer understood the purpose of the citizens committee.

Rita Padilla-Gutierrez, who was the most vocal opponent nine years ago and is also a member of the CAC, said in a phone conversation with Valencia! that she was unaware an option had been selected.

She said the citizens committee will likely be “angered” by this decision and will speak out in a unified voice once she’s gathered more information.

Despite the citizens committee not having picked any specific options – it’s had only three meetings – the document showing the options, including the selected Option 8, says the options were “identified by CAC and Study Team.”

The study began in April and is (or was) expected to last 18 months.

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