Q&A: Transportation secretary talks infrastructure, local projects

New Mexico Transportation Secretary Michael Sandoval, along with other representatives of the Department of Transportation’s District Two, visited the region Monday with various local representatives to gauge their project needs.

Sandoval, along with Rep. Randy Crowder, R-Clovis, and Director of Local Government Relations George Dodge, spoke with The News on Monday afternoon about the visit and the department in general.

Q: What was the purpose of today’s Clovis visit?

Sandoval: I think it was a couple of things. First, we came and looked at a couple of projects the city is really interested in on U.S. 60. One is funded, and we’re looking for funding on the other. The total amount needed is about $45 million. We have about half of that.

We took a look at a couple of city projects around Seventh Street. There’s about $120 million (in a statewide pool) of local money appropriated by the Legislature, which we’re really appreciative of. The $120 million was appropriated statewide, so there will be a competitive process for cities to access that money (projects identified included Seventh Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard). We just came from Cannon Air Force Base and talked with officials to identify a road that could be a benefit to them.

Q: Just to establish a baseline for everybody reading this, what is the DOT’s responsibility for roads?

Sandoval: All of the interstate, U.S. and New Mexico highways are the responsibility of DOT. Any city or county road is the responsibility of that city or county. The only exception is if we have some sort of maintenance agreement. For example, some of our New Mexico roads go through towns.

Q: There are six districts in New Mexico the DOT oversees, with Curry and Roosevelt part of District Two. What makes District Two different from the other five?

Sandoval: District Two is one of our largest geographical districts. It doesn’t have any interstate in it — it’s the only district without it — and so a lot of the focus goes to the U.S. highways and New Mexico highways. We also have a big commercial vehicle presence, which is not the case outside of the interstates in the other districts. There’s a lot of commercial traffic, not any interstate and there are a lot of small roads that need more care.

Q: The DOT also has oversight over the Essential Air Services program, which serves the Clovis Regional Airport. We’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of Denver Air Connections serving the airport. How is that going so far?

Sandoval: I think that’s been very successful. There was a bill passed last session that could possibly provide another service, which could maybe go from here to Dallas or Houston. I know that’s something that’s very important to the community, and the base in particular. I know that’s an ongoing project, and we’re encouraging the city to apply.

Q: What local projects are going on right now?

Dodge: We’ve got one from the Melrose Bombing Range turnoff. It started (Monday) morning, as a matter of fact. That is about 5 miles east of the range. It was interesting to see the Seventh Street project (from Maple to Norris); that worked out really well. (Regarding the bombing range project), it should take about four months.

Q: What can we anticipate for projects with federal stimulus money?

Sandoval: We’re looking forward to that. We don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like. But any increase to federal funding is welcome. We know the southeast part of our state is very important to our economy in general. We put a lot of that money not only here, but in Eddy and Lea counties.

Q: Assuming President Biden can get his infrastructure priorities through Congress, how does that impact District Two?

Sandoval: I think you’ll see some big projects. U.S. 380 is one on our radar. N.M. 128 from Carlsbad to Jal is another one we’re working on. You also have a lot of highways we drove down here that are in need of general maintenance. Not any major construction projects, but just some maintenance is needed and I think people will notice that just as much as a larger project.

Q: It’s often said you can be told about something repeatedly, but you don’t understand it until you experience it. Did anything from your visit match that description?

Sandoval: We drove down from Fort Sumner. We saw a lot of issues, things I’d only heard about. But seeing it, and feeling it in your car, is a whole different experience. We certainly want to address those. Any increase in stimulus or federal money would help.

Q: A concern that’s been raised with all of the incoming state and federal funding is that project demand will outpace contractor and worker supply. Is that something you’re seeing or expect to see?

Sandoval: We have continued to hear that concern for the last three years. We have yet to experience it. What we like to say is we’re going to continue to put the money out there, keep building these projects. We’ll keep listening to concerns, but for right now the contractors are able to handle the work and we’re able to keep a lot of that work local. I haven’t seen any evidence of that being the case.

Q: But since you’ve heard about it for three years, how would you plan to mitigate it?

Sandoval: One of the things contractors have asked us to do is spread out the projects so you don’t have a lot happening at once and a few months later nothing happening. The more consistent we are, and the more we spread out the work, the more likely they’ll be able to handle it.

Q: Any closing thoughts?

Sandoval: This is my 23rd year with the department. These last three years, our Legislature and our governor have been very generous investing in infrastructure. We thank people like Rep. Crowder. It’s a bipartisan issue. Infrastructure is good for the state no matter where you are.

— Compiled by Editor Kevin Wilson. Conversation was edited for brevity and clarity.