Lundstrom starts process leading to RR bypasses
Asks state for $1M to start planning projects

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Patricia Lundstrom hopes to kick planning for a new overpass and underpass across Gallup's increasingly busy railroad tracks into high gear this year. The Gallup state representative introduced a $1 million capital outlay request for the project in Santa Fe last week.

The money is actually meant for two projects: an overpass at Allison Road on the west end of town, and an underpass at Second Street for the downtown. Though miles apart, they're linked by the common goal of getting city traffic over and under the same set of railroad tracks.

Those tracks, which gave Gallup its start when an Atlantic and Pacific Railroad paymaster set up shop here in 1881, are starting to get in its way.

Both railroad and city officials blame China. With the booming economies of Southeast Asia unloading ever more goods in San Diego and Los Angeles for shipment to all points east, Gallup's crossings guards are spending more and more of their time in the down position. With an average of 100 trains whistling through Gallup each day, the guards at Second Street, Third Street and Allison Road are now down more than half the time, according to BNSF Railway, the company that owns the tracks.

Down time
And it's only expected to get worse. Five years from now, BNSF expects to be sending more than 160 trains through Gallup and have the city's crossing guards down 75 percent of the time. By then, City Manager Eric Honeyfield said, the Second and Third Street crossings will effectively be closed, cutting off downtown Gallup's only direct ties to the north side of the city.

But the city isn't waiting for that to happen. Officials have already started talking with both the state and railroad company about the overpass and underpass. And according to Honeyfield, conceptual plans for the overpass, by Allison, already exist.

Since the reconstruction of the Muoz overpass now under way will cost close to $20 million, the $1 million Lundstrom is asking for won't be nearly enough to build either project. According to Lundstrom's request, the overpass and underpass will cost $37.7 million, including a new bridge for Allison over the Rio Puerco and an interchange for Allison with Interstate 40.

With this request, she said, "we're hoping to get some money in the hopper to get started on some planning."

A combination of federal, state and BNSF money would be sought to help make up the rest. In addition to her $1 million, Lundstrom said she'd be asking Gov. Bill Richardson to chip in some of his own capital outlay funds. She said $8 million would also have to come from the city.

For sale
According to Honeyfield, the city would try to come up with its share by selling land it owns, east of where the Allison overpass would go, to developers. City officials are hoping those developers see the same economic potential in the project as they do. A new Allison Road, Honeyfield said, replete with a hassle-free overpass and an interchange with the interstate would "open up" acres of yet undeveloped land for business.

An underpass beneath 2nd Street, meanwhile, would help Gallup's struggling downtown.

The current city administration has invested some $5 million worth of public projects in the neighborhood, and there's been some serious talk lately of turning it into a business improvement district, where property owners would voluntarily impose a new assessment on themselves to pay for local improvements. But the constant train traffic across both 2nd and 3rd is already diverting potential business east to the Miyamura overpass, around downtown. Closing the crossings permanently, some fear, would cripple downtown Gallup for good.

By avoiding the railroad crossings altogether, a two-way underpass beneath 2nd, Honeyfield said, would bring even more traffic to the neighborhood than it sees now. Despite the tight space for such a project, the engineering firm BNSF regularly hires for New Mexico projects says it's very doable.

Besides economics, a 2nd Street underpass could also reduce the number of people killed trying to cross the tracks. According to the New Mexico Department of Transportation, Gallup's train tracks have been the scene of five pedestrian fatalities in the past decade and 10 injuries.

Honeyfield said the city should not close 2nd and 3rd until a new overpass or underpass is in place. He hopes at least one is in place by the time the number of trains passing through Gallup hits 160.

Lundstrom's capital outlay request, if approved, would be an important step in that direction.