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November 14, 2003

Richardson Signs Highway Bill

By Richard Benke
The Associated Press
   ALBUQUERQUE  —   Gov. Bill Richardson on Friday signed a $1.6 billion transportation package designed to improve roads, create 50,000 jobs and begin commuter rail service between Belen and Bernalillo.
    That $6 million rail line, with three stops initially, would run on existing Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks to park-and-ride depots at either end and would be operational within 18 months, the governor said at a news conference on the edge of Interstate 40.
    The line would be the first leg of commuter rail service extending to Santa Fe, he said.
    Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught, who appeared with Richardson and several lawmakers at the news conference, said she would meet in two weeks with Amtrak officials in Los Angeles to negotiate terms for a demonstration line between El Paso, Texas, and Albuquerque to run next summer.
    The rails would be integrated into a new "intermodal" public transit system, a first for New Mexico, Richardson said.
    "The goal is to give our commuters choices. Intermodal includes efficient rail service, particularly for the I-25 corridor. I've directed Secretary Faught to make light rail a priority and to have service within 18 months. We want to ride that train!" he said.
    The bill, passed by a special legislative session that ended earlier this month, includes about 40 Transportation Department projects. It requires that local contractors do 75 percent of the work.
    A few items in the bill were being vetoed, but Richardson did not mention that in signing a ceremonial copy with a flourish as I-40 traffic whizzed past behind him. Press secretary Billy Sparks said those vetoes would be announced later.
    Some priority items not vetoed include:
      —  Widening U.S. 491, formerly U.S. 666, to four lanes between Gallup and Shiprock.
      —  Improving I-40 between Grants and Thoreau.
      —  Improving Interstate 10 in the Lordsburg area.
      —  Building a better Coors Boulevard-I-40 interchange in Albuquerque. Coors is a major north-south artery on the west side of the Rio Grande. Richardson said the work would start immediately.
    The bill's overall economic impact on the state would be $8.4 billion and would benefit every county, the governor said, calling the bill "a path toward high-wage jobs and growing economic prosperity. This is about jobs and progress."
    The Belen-Bernalillo commuter rail project will be spearheaded by the Mid-Region Council of Governments headed by former Albuquerque city administrator Lawrence Rael, Faught said.
    Rael said eventually the line might have five or six stops   —   but at first it will have just three: Belen, Albuquerque and Bernalillo.
    The depots would be a magnet for businesses interested in a slice of the commuter market. The Bernalillo stop would benefit commuters in Rio Rancho, San Ysidro and Placitas; the Belen stop would be good for the many little riverside communities along the Rio Grande from Socorro north.