Southern road to spaceport finally passable

State lawmakers from the Las Cruces area who worked with former Gov. Bill Richardson on the legislation that created Spaceport America in 2006 understood from the very beginning how important it would be to have a southern road to provide access from Las Cruces.

At that time, the spaceport was thought of primarily as the site where Virgin Galactic would be blasting wealthy space tourists into sub-orbital space, and the road was needed to ensure they would be spending their money in Las Cruces in the days before and after the luanch.

Since then, a tragic accident during a test flight has delayed the start of Virgin launches, and new Spaceport America CEO Dan Hicks has worked to broaden the mission of the spaceport to include not just tourism but all aspect of space commercialization.

But regardless of what the vision is for the spaceport, it has always been critical for Las Cruces that people can get to the facility without having to drive all the way up to Truth or Consequences and then working back south.

Which is why the numerous delays that have plagued the southern road project have been so frustrating. We were relieved to learn last week that the project is mostly done.

The 24-mile road still needs a few finishing touches, including stripping and road signs, but is completed enough so that drivers in passenger cars can now reach the spaceport without risking damaging their vehicle on the rough road, County Manager Fernando Macias said.

We were especially pleased to learn that the road has been paved, as opposed to earlier plans to go with a cheaper gravel or chip-seal road, which would not have lasted as long and would have required greater maintenance.

The new road will shave about 45 minutes off the time it takes to travel from Las Cruces to the spaceport. That will be important for things like the Spaceport America Cup, a collegiate rocketry competition held over several days with events both at the spaceport and in Las Cruces.

The new road will also make the spaceport more attractive to companies that may be considering leasing space there. Hicks has said that the lack of a southern road has cost the spaceport potential customers in the past.

The road is being funded by the Spaceport Authority, but construction is being done by the county. And, because the project was started in the last fiscal year and finished in this fiscal year,the county had to transfer some of its own money to get the road completed. While that decisions was criticized by some opponents of the spaceport, we are confident that the full reimbursement will be made as scheduled.

The county will conduct the final inspection on the road and will determine when the project has been completed.

We continue to believe that the road should eventually be taken over by the state, as its only real function is to provide access to a state-owned facility. The state, and not county taxpayers, should be responsible for ongoing maintenance costs.

For now, we are just glad that the road is finally passable.