New Mexico Gas Co., which county officials say was a major cause of a nearly yearlong delay in completing the Bridge Boulevard construction project, drew the ire of a county commissioner Tuesday.
Brian Lopez, the county’s technical services director, told commissioners the project was delayed because the utility company has been slow to finish its own work. He said one of the prerequisites for starting construction on the project was resolving issues with utility providers, so that street reconstruction doesn’t damage their lines causing service outages or interruptions.
Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada, whose district includes the project area, said the delays are unacceptable.
“Everybody else seemed to be doing the work in a reasonable time,” he said. “I just don’t feel like it was a priority for the gas company.’
He said the delays have wreaked economic havoc on the South Valley neighborhood, with one business already closed and others struggling.
“I mean, a year — almost a year — you gotta be kidding me,” Quezada said. “I don’t believe that would happen in any other part of the city.”
Quezada also expressed concern about the impact of delays on contractor Star Paving, which won’t receive a substantial portion of its pay until the work is done.
“Could you imagine owning a business and you’re almost a year behind … and not even bringing the money in?” Quezada said.
New Mexico Gas Co. Spokesperson Tim Korte disputed the county’s version of events.
“We fundamentally disagree with the assertions that New Mexico Gas Company is responsible for much of the Bridge Boulevard construction delays,” Kort said by email Wednesday afternoon. “As we communicated to the county several months ago, many delays in the completion of the very high-pressure line replacement project have been the result of conditions beyond NMGC’s control, including safety and environmental concerns, high winds that required the county to shut down the project, water in trenches because of an unusually high water table and work by other contractors that wasn’t completed on time.”
Korte contends the company safely and diligently completed its project and defended the pace at which the work was done.
“As we have discussed with the county, NMGC cannot compromise the safety of its personnel, contractors, the public, or the environment simply to avoid delays.”
Quezada acknowledged the frustration some of his constituents are feeling and thanked public works staff for listening to him.
“If the people in my district are outraged, it’s OK, be mad at me,” he said. “I’ll take some of the responsibility for that, but you also need to make sure you reach out to the gas company and let them know how unhappy you are with their performance and the effort that they put into that project.”
Lopez said other service providers have been more accommodating and responded quickly to county requests for information.
In February 2023, he said, the gas company informed county Public Works staff that it needed to replace a high-pressure gas line in the project area and suggested that the project be combined with the county’s work, reducing the amount of disruption the public would have to bear.
Lopez said that was supposed to take 60 days, but eventually ballooned to a 269-day delay. He said several phases of the gas company project ended up taking longer than originally estimated to complete.
Lopez said those delays ranged from five to 106 days; the latter being a task the county was told would be done in 10 days.
Lopez said the project, which includes reconstruction of the road surface from Young Avenue to La Vega Drive SW, new lighting and drainage and Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks and ramps, is expected to be done by Jan. 21.
The project is in its second phase. The first was completed in 2022 and the third is in the planning stages.