By Mary Alice Murphy

Brian Torres, New Mexico Department of Transportation project manager, opened the regular monthly update on the New Mexico 90-Hudson Street Bridge meeting on Aug. 12, at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center, by handing the meeting to Roger Koest of Interstate Highway Construction, the contractor on the project.

"Today (Wednesday, Aug. 12) we placed concrete on Pier 3," Koest reported. "Next week, likely on Friday, Aug. 21, we will pour the first abutment. Next week we will put in the rebar for the final pier, and Aug. 28 is our tentative date for pouring the final pier. We will be defining the pier caps. Next Monday, we will be moving a water line on the north pier, which will take about three days to replace."

Torres said the last abutment would be constructed Sept. 4 or during the week of Sept. 7. "At that point, all pier caps and abutments will be up."

Koest said the building of beams would take longer than it took tearing them down.

"We are still on schedule, within a week," Torres said. "We are still on track to meet our deadlines."

Koest said the contractor had stepped up work on weekends, due to weather delays, in order to meet deadlines.

Torres said the department was working on patching the Truck Bypass Road. "It only has two inches of surface, so between the rain and the traffic, it is breaking up. We will continue to patch through the life of the project. There will be a short stretch closed with a flagger for repair, but it will cause only a few-minute delay. We anticipate being done next week. Tomorrow (Thursday, Aug. 13) we will be patching smaller holes and on Friday, larger holes."

Because the intersection with US Highway 180 is also showing wear, the department plans to work on it.

Doug Shelley, resident, asked if the department could put a stop bar connected to the double yellow line to create a safe area to keep drivers turning from cutting into the lane where traffic is stopped.

He also requested an improvement at the intersection of Truck Bypass and NM highway 90. "Coming off the Bypass and turning left northward toward Silver City, people are going in the middle and not leaving enough room for those turning left from 90 onto the Bypass Road."

Shelley's wife, Diane, said she had seen the same problem at the left turn onto Cooper Street.

Torres said because the area was narrower at Cooper, it likely was not as bad, but said the would talk to the Traffic Division, because "I see your concerns."

"Just make it more specific for turning," Shelley requested.

Torres said he had also received complaints of people walking around the construction area after crews have left for the day.

"It's still a dangerous area," Torres said. "For public safety, we remind people that the construction area is not a safe place to be. It is for authorized personnel only. We don't want anyone to get hurt."

The next meeting is set for Sept. 9, with the venue to be determined, as the conference center is expected to be closed for renovation by that date.