Grants City Council OKs Nimitz bridge

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Drivers in Grants can expect delays in the future, but residents on Nimitz Drive will be more secure in wet weather as a result of new bridge now in the design stages.

The Grants City Council voted Tuesday night to award an engineering contract to Wilson and Wilson of Albuquerque for initial plans on a replacement bridge over the Rio San Jose. Engineering work will cost the city $39,625, City Manager Robert Horacek said. With additional expenses for plans and research, the contract will cost $62,425, Horacek added.

In a presentation earlier this year, engineers offered the council several approaches to addressing the unsafe condition of the bridge on Nimitz Drive, including taking down the bridge and improving the river bed, with traffic permanently re-routed. The council voted to accept a plan that would rebuild the bridge and improve water flow, although it would cost the city more than other approaches and require other road work be postponed.
In other construction and renovation actions, the council awarded a bid to KDK Construction of Cibola County to install automatic doors and create an outdoor smoking area at the Cibola Senior Center and tabled a decision on bids for roof work to several city-owned buildings. Horacek said the bids were wide enough in range to require more discussion.

The council passed a resolution to remove the boarded up apartment buildings on the Rio San Jose at Washington Avenue, across from Future Foundations Family Center.
Information: The Grants City Council meets at 6:00 p.m. the last Tuesday of every month in the council chambers in City Hall. Enter through the parking lot on Lead Street. A public comment period is allowed near the beginning of each meeting.