Construction: Expect delays

PORTALES — Nearly a month of repairs is coming to one of Portales’ main thoroughfares, but the city’s public works director said inconveniences will be minimal.

A road repair project is anticipated to begin on July 24 on North Kilgore Avenue between U.S. 70 and Third Street. Public Works Director John DeSha said he anticipates it will end on Aug. 31.

The repairs — estimated to cost the city $30,000 — will address what DeSha called “alligatoring,” in which asphalt begins to dry and crack.

“We’re gonna put down one kind of patch, and it has to dry for a couple days. We can’t have any traffic on it for those two days, and then we’re gonna put material over the top of that, and then we’ll be able to open that back up,” he said.

The repairs will take place in sections, according to DeSha, beginning near Wal-Mart and moving south. Approaching the project in this fashion prevents closing the entire road, he said.

“If we shut the whole road down and do the entire road all at once, then it wouldn’t take as long, but we just can’t do that. Between the people that live there, the businesses and the amount of traffic that goes up and down that road, we just can’t shut it down completely,” he said.

In an attempt to minimize inconvenience, the project will be completed in larger sections once it begins to move past Wal-Mart into the more residential section of Kilgore.

“The people that live there will still be able to access their homes. We’ll be talking with them individually,” he said. “We believe that this method will dramatically extend the life of that road.”

Third and Kilgore Church of Christ is located at the southernmost part of the project’s scope, and will still be accessible from Third Street, according to Portales City Clerk Joan Martinez-Terry.

That’s a relief for the church’s secretary Wynette McKillip, who doesn’t mind having the Kilgore exit unavailable “as long as we can get through Third.”

“If not, then we’d have to go a very long way around,” she said.

Wal-Mart and the outlet stores on the lot’s southeast corner will also be accessible through the U.S. 70 entrance, DeSha said.