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Mesilla Valley MPO advisory panel ranks Paisano resurfacing above Kaiser planning; forwards recommendation to governing board
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Summary
At an April meeting the Mesilla Valley MPO Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee recommended that the Town of Mesilla’s Paisano Road resurfacing request be ranked first and a Kaiser Road planning/widening request be ranked second when the MPO governing board considers local project funding priorities.
Members of the Mesilla Valley MPO Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee on April 15 recommended that the MPO governing board prioritize the Town of Mesilla’s Paisano Road reconstruction request over a separate planning/design request for widening and multimodal improvements on Kaiser Road.
The committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the MPO governing board as the ranked list for two Mesilla transportation project fund applications. The panel voted by voice to place the Paisano resurfacing/construction request first and the Kaiser planning/design request second.
The Town of Mesilla presented two applications. The Paisano Road project covers about 1.1 miles north from Glass Road and is described in committee materials as a resurfacing effort that will include a three-inch grind to the base course and a full resurface within the existing roadway footprint. Town officials said the work would cover engineering, construction and construction management. The applicant noted that multimodal facilities are not in the current scope but may appear in future MPO mapping and planning.
The Kaiser Road application was for planning and design only; it seeks funding to study a roadway widening to a 24-foot cross section and to evaluate drainage, sidewalks and potential multiuse-path options between La Mesilla Circle and Snow Road. The application packet cited letters of support from NMDOT, the Elephant Butte Irrigation District and two irrigation-ditch landowners; the town said the packet will include those letters when the application is submitted.
Russell Arnott, identified in the meeting as the town’s mayor, told the committee the New Mexico Department of Transportation had recommended giving priority to construction. “The construction project should be the number 1 priority,” Arnott said, noting that the Kaiser submission is planning-only and that some multimodal work may be covered by later MPO mapping.
Committee members asked technical questions. Jim Wilcox, the committee’s cyclist representative, asked whether resurfacing work on Paisano would extend to the right-of-way edge or leave a dirt shoulder; town staff replied the work would resurface to the existing right-of-way within the current footprint. Committee members also asked about local matching funds and public outreach; the town said its board of trustees has approved the project and that the town will pursue match-waiver requests if available.
The committee made the ranking recommendation by motion and approved it by voice vote; the meeting record shows a second and a unanimous “aye” from members present. The committee did not record a roll-call vote in the minutes; the recommendation will be considered by the MPO governing board at its next meeting.
The next step for both applications is formal consideration by the MPO governing board, which will accept the BPAC’s ranked recommendation when it acts on local project prioritization.
