Southern road to Spaceport America almost done

UPHAM - For more than a decade, a paved southern road to Spaceport America has been promised to Doña Ana County taxpayers, who for years have paid taxes to repay a portion of the debt incurred to build the spaceport in southeastern Sierra County.

Finally, after years of delays and uncertainties, the roughly 24-mile-long road is paved. Some details remain in the overall project, which Doña Ana County officials expect to be completed in August.

'98 percent complete'

Doña Ana County Manager Fernando Macias said he drove the road on July 9 to see how it looked.

"From my perspective, it's 98 percent complete," he said. "Maybe a little bit of touch-ups (are needed) as we go along because we haven't technically accepted the road or accepted the finality of the project."

Many local officials have considered a paved southern road to the spaceport key to Doña Ana County's economic development involvement with the facility.

For years, there's been a dirt road along the southern route, which stretches from the Upham Exit of Interstate 25 to the spaceport. But it was in poor condition, and drivers, especially those in passenger cars, found it impassable. Even people driving trucks reported frequent flat tires.

The only paved route to the spaceport requires driving north to Truth or Consequences and backtracking to the southeast.  

The southern road contractor, Mountain States Construction, has been working on the project since around the start of the calendar year, according to county officials

There had been uncertainty about what type of improved road would be built. The budget for the project — roughly $14 million — was considered small for paving 24 miles of road. At different times, county officials have discussed building an improved gravel road or a chip-sealed road, both lower quality than full paving.

But Assistant County Manager Chuck McMahon said the county offered several possible road-type options in the bid solicitation process. And the winning bid proposal entailed paving the road.

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"What we have is two inches of asphalt over five inches of base course, and two arroyo crossings — big box culvert crossings," he said. "The asphalt is a longer-lasting surface than a chip seal."

In addition, barbed-wire fencing was installed along both sides of the road to keep cattle from adjacent ranches off the route.

Signs, striping to be installed

Last week, during a Sun-News visit to the site, the smooth black asphalt road was readily passable driving passenger cars. A heavy rain storm the previous evening had left standing puddles in places. The road lacks striping and road signs — including speed limit signs. County officials said those are some of the details that must still be wrapped up.

McMahon said the speed limit for the road will be 45 mph. 

Overall, the southern road is expected to shave off about 45 minutes or so from the total travel time to Spaceport America from Las Cruces.

Macias said he thought the road "drove very smoothly." But he did ask the county engineer to ask the contractor about some small issues he noticed.

"There was just a couple of little pieces that I wasn't quite clear why it looked like that," he said.

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority is funding the road project, but Doña Ana County was tasked with overseeing the construction. A Spaceport Authority official couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

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Awaiting reimbursement

Macias said the county must initially use its own funds to pay the contractor. Then the Spaceport Authority will reimburse the county after the work is complete. The project won't be considered finished until the county does a final inspection — and issues the final payment to the contractor, he said.

Because the road construction is taking place between two fiscal years and the county hasn't yet been reimbursed fully by the state for spaceport work, the Doña Ana County Commission last week issued an accounting-related approval in connection to the road, as well as several other outstanding reimbursements tied to grant-funded projects. County officials temporarily transferred county funds into the spaceport road fund to have balanced books at the close of the financial cycle June 30. The transfers, which covered the spaceport southern road and other projects, totaled $7.3 million.

County officials said those funds will be reimbursed in about two months.

In 2007, Doña Ana County voters narrowly approved a 1/4 of 1 percent gross receipts tax to finance a portion of the construction of Spaceport America, located just north of Doña Ana County. The state-owned spaceport is a launch site for commercial space vehicles. 

Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443, dalba@lcsun-news.com or @AlbaSoular on Twitter.