State faces comment from Galisteo residents who say roadwork damaging homes, village

Dec. 20—GALISTEO — State transportation officials faced irate residents who packed a community center Tuesday to grill them about a highway project that is disrupting this sleepy village and, they say, damaging some homes near the roadway.

The project to widen and resurface N.M. 41 has generated noise and vibrations that, residents say, are causing cracks inside homes and degrading Galisteo's rural serenity and historic character by paving the way for motorists and semi-trucks to barrel through town at faster speeds.

The common lament was the modernized highway is changing Galisteo, and the village will never be the same.

Residents questioned the timing of the highway being widened as Houston-based Enterprise Products prepares to open a fuel depot down the road in Moriarty.

About 100 trucks will pick up fuel from the site daily to deliver to regional dealers, and although it's unknown how many will drive through Galisteo, the tanker traffic is certain to increase.

Officials say monitoring devices that were recently set up where roadwork is being done show the vibrations aren't strong enough to damage structures, validating managers' decision not to gauge the vibrations at the start of this project's phase.

"They felt that based on what we were doing, it wasn't going to impact the structures within the village," said Rick Padilla, state director of highway operations.

When asked about residents seeing cracks forming in their interior walls, Padilla suggested there's no definite link to the roadwork.

"We can't determine it's construction," Padilla said. "I think that's what's going to be carried out in the claims process."

Jennifer Martin, whose house is near the highway, said she's one of nine people who have filed claims with the state about damage the loud, rumbling equipment has done to their homes.

Cracks mar her ceilings and walls, and more than one wooden ceiling beam has begun separating from a wall, indicating possible structural damage — all of which appeared in the past few months, she said.

Martin wrote in an email Wednesday a state claims adjuster spent the morning looking through a half-dozen homes. She said she has low expectations about the residents being compensated after an attorney she knows told her the state almost never decides in favor of homeowners in construction-impact cases.

It's no surprise state officials were dismissive of people reporting construction damaging the interior of their homes, she wrote.

"I know how much my house was shaking," Martin "They obviously want to get out of any responsibility. I think it's their usual reply and how they [handle] these situations."

Crews rebuilt two bridges south of Galisteo in the project's first phase and then rebuilt a 9-mile stretch of highway south of the bridges to Clark Hill in the second phase. They are now in the third phase, improving and widening a 5.5-mile section of highway from north of town to U.S. 285.

They will monitor vibrations at the start of the next phase to ensure there are no impacts to homes and historic structures like Galisteo's church, said state Transportation Secretary Ricky Serna.

He was referring to the Iglesia Nuestra Señora de los Remedios — the Church of Our Lady of the Remedies — which was built in the 1880s on the site where a 1700s mission church with the same name once stood.

Design for this fourth phase is scheduled to start in the spring at about the same time the third phase is wrapping up, Serna said.

The community will get to weigh in on this phase, he said, with the agency seeking community feedback at various stages. People's suggestions will be seriously considered, including the option to forgo the improvements altogether, Serna said.

"Everyone is aware of the historic nature of the community," district engineer Paul Brasher told residents, noting a phase was added to accommodate people's concerns.

Many residents seemed pleased about having more say in this final phase, which they feel has the most potential impact on the village.

Resident Elayne Patton said changes should be kept to a minimum — perhaps simply fixing the potholes and resurfacing the roadway — so the area will retain its historic feel. That, in turn, will encourage people to drive through at a reasonable speed, she said.

"I think we all want the center of the village to look like it does now," Patton said.

A few people questioned whether the highway widening was tied to the Moriarty fuel depot, and whether the state could get the tankers to take an alternative route.

Serna assured them it was not linked to the depot, saying the state first examined the corridor's needed upgrades, including widening the highway's shoulders, more than a decade ago. In so many words he said the fuel transfer station and highway improvements were coincidental.

The state can't order truckers not to use a public highway unless infrastructure such as a bridge can't support the big rigs, he said. Ultimately, it's up to whoever runs the tankers whether they're willing to take a longer route to spare the village the traffic, he said, but in general a driver will choose the shorter route to save time and fuel.

Many residents expressed concerns about cars driving through the village faster since the stretch of highway was widened and wondered what could be done to slow down motorists.

Brasher agreed it's a problem.

Although the posted speed limit is 35 mph, motorists are averaging closer to 50 mph, he said.

Brasher and other officials suggested installing a "welcome to Galisteo" sign," which they said tends to slow down drivers because they realize they're going through a town and not just blowing past a few scattered, roadside houses.

Signs warning drivers they're entering a town with electronic surveillance are also effective, Serna said.

Mike Anaya, 59, who grew up in Galisteo, said some folks would like the village to be the same as it was when he was a child, with just a half-dozen cars passing through a day, but that's not the modern reality.

Scrapping the fourth phase would be unwise, Anaya said, because the village would lose out on state funding for what he thinks are much-overdue road improvements.

"We can't just do nothing," Anaya said. "We have to fix this road and make it nice. I'm all for Phase 4, and I think we've got to do it right."