Council OKs Street Work

City councilors this week gave the green light to design an extension to Broadmoor Boulevard, but nixed a proposal to build a temporary access road between the City Center and Paseo del Volcan.

The council had considered the projects at its April 11 meeting, but deferred a decision to give staff more time to rework the details after failing to reach agreement.

The proposal was to use $500,000 in funds from a sales tax designated to design a two-lane paved section of Broadmoor from Norwich Avenue to Paseo del Volcan and associated intersection improvements and a temporary access road from the City Center to Paseo del Volcan.

At their Wednesday meeting, councilors voted 4-2 to amend the proposal, reducing the cost to $250,000 by cutting out the temporary road.

Councilor Chuck Wilkins proposed the amendment, which was supported by Councilors Tim Crum, Mark Scott and Lonnie Clayton. Councilors Tamara Gutierrez and Patty Thomas voted against it.

Wilkins and Crum supported the same amendment two weeks ago but couldn’t get the votes to pass it.

In the interim, runoff elections on April 17 changed the makeup of the council.

Scott replaced Steve Shaw in District 4 and Clayton took Kathy Colley’s place in District 6.

In proposing the amendment, Wilkins questioned whether traffic levels in the City Center area justified the need for the temporary road.

The city’s Public Works Director Scott Sensanbaugher said Rio Rancho’s police chief and fire chief supported the temporary road because of concerns about ambulance access to the UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center due to open this summer.

Wilkins argued that extending Broadmoor should solve the problem, but did not rule out building the temporary road in the future.

“I’m still open to considering the temporary road once Broadmoor is done and we take real traffic counts,” Wilkins said.

After approving the amendment, councilors voted 5-1 to approve the resolution to fund the design work.

Gutierrez voted against. Thomas said she was only voting for it “because this work needs to be done.”