The City of Belen is getting another $3 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Gov. Bill Richardson’s office recently announced Belen will receive the money to help construct a pedestrian crossing between the Belen’s New Mexico Rail Runner station and downtown.

“We’re so excited about that,” Mayor Ronnie Torres said, calling the news “fantastic.”

The money was among the city’s requests for stimulus funding, and was more recently included in the Mid-Region Council of Governments Station Area Planning Study, which addresses the importance of the crossing to downtown revitalization.

During last month’s announcement that Belen was accepted into the New Mexico MainStreet program, the state’s economic development secretary, Fred Mondragon, said among his top priorities for Belen was figuring out how to get Rail Runner leisure riders and tourists from the Rail Runner station to downtown. Right now pedestrians have a long and arduous walk to get across the Reinken Avenue bridge.

While there has been no formal design for the crossing, city officials have suggested at meetings over the last six months that the crossing could include elevators that will take pedestrians from the east side of the bridge to the west side.

Previously, the city and governor’s office announced Belen will receive $750,000 for water collection system projects and get another $128,000 for three new shuttle buses.

So far, the city is the only local government that has received money from the stimulus through lobbying efforts and grant writing.

This page was published on June 29, 2009 at 7:43am and is filed under Archive.