An application for a $1 million rehabilitation project of a major Carlsbad street was approved Tuesday night by the Carlsbad City Council.
The City will submit the application to the New Mexico Department of Transportation (DOT) to acquire money for fiscal year 2022 from the Local Government Road Grant Fund (LGRF), read city council documents.
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Manon Arnett, spokesperson for the DOT’s District 2 office in Roswell said the LGRF is a designated fund with a 75 percent state match and a 25 percent local match.
“This program was created to provide funding to local governments for projects where local Entities take the lead in local road construction and maintenance projects,” she said.
Arnett said LGRF is a recurring fund that is divided between four DOT programs based on formula set in state statue.
In a memorandum to councilors from Ivan Abell, projects administrator for the City of Carlsbad, said DOT will pay $796,000 for the project and the city will pay a $265,000.
Abell said the work would involve a road mill, or removing part of the street’s surface and road inlay, which is pavement placed on top of the milled surface.
“Project would include the planning, design, construction, pavement rehabilitation, drainage, milling, striping and miscellaneous improvements of West Mermod Street,” Abell wrote in his memo.
Plans include removing two inches of existing pavement and replacing it with a new asphalt mix, council documents indicated.
Abell’s memo said work will start at the intersection of Canal Street and Mermod Street and head west to the Carlsbad Irrigation District (CID) main canal near North First Street.
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The length of the project is around one mile, City Council documents stated.
“West Mermod Street is a four-lane collector street with shoulders that connects the west portion of the City of Carlsbad to the east portion of the City,” council documents read.
“The physical condition of the paved surface on West Mermod Street has severely deteriorated and needs pavement reconstruction,” the documents added.
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According to the City of Carlsbad, improvements to Mermod Street will enhance Carlsbad’s street network and infrastructure condition safety for the public.
“Now that we’ve received City Council’s approval, we will submit our application for this grant and find out in April if we are selected. Funds would be awarded in October and we would begin as soon as the money is available,” said Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway.
Janway added the impending work on Mermod Street is needed for the City of Carlsbad.
“And we are confident that the grant will be approved,” he said.
Arnett said a call for projects goes out in January of each year and applications are due March 15th.
Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.