Editor's Note: This is an update sent out by Scott Terry of the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce.

Highway 152 Update
This is a huge rebuilding job!

We just got off the phone with the region manager for the New Mexico Department of Transportation. The area where Highway 152 washed out (between San Lorenzo and Kingston) is taking a long time to repair due to the location. The highway department is actually having to rebuild from the creek bed that lies down below up to the highway. The roadbed and asphalt were washed away, and the water eroded so much of the hillside below the highway, the road crew is having to rebuild a huge area of that hillside to accommodate the weight of new asphalt and the weight of the cars and trucks that travel the road.

Next week, the Chamber of Commerce office may receive some pictures of the reconstruction work taking place. When we get those pictures, we will send out another email blast updating the progress of the highway work.

So the burning question is... HOW LONG IS IT GOING TO TAKE?

Well, the New Mexico Department of Transportation hopes to reopen Highway 152 by Thanksgiving. Now please bear with these folks. They are working really hard to get the reconstruction project completed, because they know the winter weather season is getting close. If you remember, the weekend before Thanksgiving last year brought heavy snows. And the Black Range got hit pretty hard.

We appreciate the highway department's efforts to get the road over the Black Range mountains opened again.