First Street project advancing

GRANTS, N.M. - The City of Grants is currently rebuilding the northern end of First Street from Washington Ave. to Roosevelt and, according to Special Project Coordinator Donald Jaramillo the work on the project is coming along great.

“We are still on our timeline, and we have saved money with the project so we will be adding the lighting during our construction,” Jaramillo said.

Jaramillo said there has been a lot of surprises during the project, most of them being from old infrastructure such as old water lines, sewer lines and gas lines.

“We are abandoning these old lines in place, but from what we have seen this abandoning in place has taken place in the past,” Jaramillo said. “That’s been the only big things we have come across.”

Jaramillo said the plume that was under first street has not posed any delays or threats to the project and because of that the cost associated with the plume and the construction has gone way down which allows for the city to move forward with the instillation of new solar lighting on the project.

The First Street Project will be a first-of-its-kind when it comes to the lighting in the entire state of New Mexico.

“No other main road in New Mexico has all solar lighting,” Jaramillo said. “This project of solar lighting on First Street needed special approval. So, this is a pilot project for solar lighting on a main street.”

Jaramillo said they anticipate the project to continue on schedule with minimal surprises for the remainder of the project. The completion of the project is scheduled for January 2022.

Along with the First Street project, which is a project to help control flooding and drainage in the area, a collection pond will be installed at the corner of Geis and Monroe where all runoff water will be diverted then pumped into the Rio San Jose arroyo. This project is a separate project from the First Street Project.

The city is also working on the Second Street channel project by widening the channel which runs parallel to second and Jaramillo that channel will be lined with concrete from the Rio San Jose to the car wash on Second Street.

“Eventually, we will get the entire channel concrete lined,” Jaramillo said.