Posted on 12/07/2007 5:26:15 AM PST by greyfoxx39
SANTA FE— With no money to pay for them, New Mexico has indefinitely postponed $500 million worth of high-priority road projects.
The biggest losers dollar-wise?
The Navajo Nation, drivers on U.S. 54 in the central part of the state and users of U.S. 64 in northern New Mexico. Other losers include drivers jockeying for position on the crowded stretch of I-25 between Bernalillo and the Tramway exit at the north end of Albuquerque.
All told, the state Transportation Commission has postponed 29 improvement projects involving 300 miles of roadway.
"I'm sure we'll have everyone upset because these projects are not up here, but what do you do when you are $500 million short?" Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught said Thursday. "We have no money."
The commission was forced to cut half a billion dollars because New Mexico's $2.7 billion high-priority transportation program called GRIP I— for Gov. Richardson's Investment Partnership— is short by that amount.
One GRIP project that didn't wind up on the delay list is the governor's Rail Runner Express commuter train.
-SNIP-
Critics, including legislators, have said the train is costing far more than anticipated and that money would be better used for highway construction and maintenance.
The commission's decision means the road projects won't be done or— in the best-case scenario, will be strung over a long period of time— unless the state finds new money to pay for them, Faught said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
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What is he doing with all the gas taxes?
Have they ever thought to tax smokers, or how about people who are overweight?
We lost money and ridership because those won't followed. You guys can pan me for being moon-battish now.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is asking governmental appointees and state employees to head to Iowa as soon as they can after Christmas to help him ahead of the Jan. 3 caucus.
Several of the governor’s top administrators already have hit the campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire. Others plan to be in Iowa for the critical final days before the caucus.
“I’ve got quite a few friends in Iowa so I am looking forward to going back up there and campaigning hard enough to keep my butt from freezing,” says Environment Secretary Ron Curry.
Do I have it wrong? I didn't think State employees were allowed to campaign on State dollars...of course, the laws don't apply here. /sarc
New Mexico isn't heavily populated Saint Louis! There are no dense/busy areas where King Bill is building his train -- that's the core issue. Mass transit doesn't make sense when it has only 2,500 riders per day, costs $500 million to build, and recovers only 7 to 9 percent of operating expenses at the fare box.
Thanks greyfoxx. The section from Bernalillo to Tramway is one of the nastiest sections of I-25 and it is still two lane each direction. I suspect that they are delaying reconstruction so that people will give up their cars and take the train which parallels that section of interstate.
ABQ Journal, 11-25-07:
The Little Engine That Could Devour Money (NM-Richardson's Railroad)
Use the keyword Richardson's Railroad to see two years worth of articles and commentary on this boondoggle.
Pretty soon they’ll be singing a new song in New Mexico:
< insert name of NM freeway overpass here > is falling down,
falling down,
falling down,
< insert name of NM freeway overpass here > is falling down,
My fair governor.
"I don't think they had a choice," said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee. "Pretty soon you've got to sober up and face the real world."
Smith said he expected lawmakers on the Legislative Finance Committee to focus on the postponed projects and the GRIP program overall when Faught goes before the committee today.
"There's an awful lot of (LFC) members that have just basically the belief there is no credibility over there. That's directed at the (state transportation) commissioners," Smith said. "They make the decisions."
And in other news from the ABQ Journal on Richardson spending other folks dollars:
(Richardson) Health Proposal $200M A Year
Gov. Bill Richardson's proposed universal health coverage plan would require $590 million in new general fund spending over the next five years, with business picking up most of the tab, Human Services Secretary Pamela S. Hyde said Tuesday.
She told lawmakers the additional cost of providing health insurance for everyone would be more than offset by a projected increase in general fund revenue of up to $200 million a year— most of it collected from employers who don't buy commercial health insurance for their workers.
They're paying their own way, or the campaign will pay. But, it's awfully hard to say "no" when the governor, as a condition of your appointment, has a signed but undated letter of resignation in his office.
Very funny, but also very infuriating.
For a FRACTIOn of 500 mil on a choo-choo train, King Bill could have put together an awesome bus network.
Not to mention all the deaths so far from the train.
There are two issues regarding the railroad here. First, Richardson bought the entire BNSF mainline from Belen to the Colorado state line. He upgraded the north-south line from Belen to Bernalillo to carry high-speed passenger traffic. That is the part of the line currently operating with about 2,500 passengers per day. Unfortunately, the main population concentration is east-west, which doesn’t have a railroad and is limited by the mountains to the east and the high desert to the west.
The north-south line doesn’t have much potential for growth because to the north the Sandia and Santa Ana pueblos and to the south the Isleta pueblo divide the line. Also, though the line stops in downtown ABQ, most business except for local government is located elsewhere and walking is not an option except for a few blocks to government offices. Current fares are $2 each way or $3 round trip, for a fare recovery of less than 10%.
The line to Santa Fe is a different issue and requires 14 miles of new construction up a 700 ft. cliff and along existing 75 mph I-25, which does not have a capacity problem north of Bernalillo (the segment deferred for re-construction so that Richardson can build his railroad). He is rushing construction so that it can be in operation in Dec 2008 (in time for his inauguration as president /sarc) and has let expensive contracts that no doubt have expensive cancellation clauses. The RR will serve mainly touristas (though most drive in or if flying, rent cars) and state government types who live in ABQ and commute daily to SF in state government vans.
This is New Mexico’s version of Al Gore’s human-caused global warming — a big scam that is costing us dearly and will lead to increased fatalities on highways which are mostly narrow two-lane and out of date.
That is so passe. Taxing breathers is where it’s at.
(requires Windows Media Player)
That section of I-25 used to be my daily commute. It was always a disaster when there was an accident, which seemed to happen pretty regularly (usually a rollover in the median). Some of them were probably caused by people turning around in the median because they missed the Bernalillo exit and didn't want to go to Tramway to turn around, so they risk a u-turn into 80 mph traffic. I always thought that was a real brainiac move.
Sometimes I would call home and have my wife check the road for me to see if it was backed up or not. Living in the Rivers Edge area, we could see that section of the freeway from the back of our house.
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