Taos News

More than coffee

By LIAM EASLEY leasley@taosnews.com

What makes for a good coffee shop experience? Is it the beans, the baristas, the vibe, or some combination of all three? Local coffee shop owners shared their thoughts on what still distinguishes Taos’ several “specialty” cafes from corporatized chains, like Starbucks, in this week’s business section. Turn to

Taos Roundtable invited local business owners and community members to the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative boardroom on Friday (May 19) to meet Paul Brasher, the District 5 engineer for the New Mexico Department of Transportation, to discuss the ongoing construction on Paseo del Pueblo and how it’s been affecting local businesses.

Brasher began the meeting by explaining why the construction project has been taking so long. Started in March 2020, the project was meant to revitalize Paseo del Pueblo from La Posta Road to Camino de la Placita north. It was originally estimated to wrap up in late 2021, but the pandemic was just one issue that pushed progress back, he said.

“This project is one of the most difficult projects that the Department of Transportation has ever undertaken because the [DOT] doesn’t typically do urban reconstruction,” Brasher said at the Friday gathering.

A primary objective for the project is to improve water drainage for the town, and that means lowering the road. According to Brasher, the current elevation of the road is higher than what was outlined in plans dating back to the 1930s. This increase in elevation has made drainage difficult for many properties.

“So, our project was really to come in and solve as many of the drainage problems as we could,” Brasher said. “What that means is creating low spots in the road where water can collect, and then we pipe it off to some receiving stream. In the process of lowering the road, our contractor encountered the utilities.”

Utilities have been the number one enemy of this project since its beginning, according to Brasher and other experts who have spoken about the cause of the delays.

During excavation, workers have encountered numerous “mystery pipes” of “unknown connectivity,” Brasher said, meaning it is uncertain what the pipes contain — be it electricals, fiberoptics, gas or water — and their purpose must be ascertained prior to moving forward.

The process of identifying the purpose of one of these pipes is complex and can take weeks, if not months. The first step is to find out which utility company the pipe belongs to, which then determines what it carries. If this pipe needs to be relocated to accommodate new infrastructure, the utility company has to call their subcontractors, who oftentimes might be working on a project elsewhere in the state.

Brasher said there have been 63 different encounters with mystery pipes, and each one had to be dealt with before moving forward. According to him, these occurrences create delays that eat up so much of the contractor’s time that the contract has to be extended. So far, the contract has been extended by roughly 156 days.

While a knot of “mystery pipes” lays underneath the woodwork of the town, the Department of Transportation and contractor El Terrero tried to avoid this fiasco by communicating with local utility companies to navigate the layout of pipes underneath the roads, Brasher said.

Other issues include Taos’ seasonal freezing temperatures, which deny workers the ability to pour concrete or lay asphalt.

Once the project reaches Cantu Hill, Brasher expects fewer delays due to unexpected utilities. The current phase involves excavation and lowering the road from Siler Road to Quesnel. After that, Serna said, construction should move swiftly. From Cantu Hill to the Paseo del Pueblo Norte-Camino de la Placita intersection north of town will just be a “mill and fill” job.

According to Serna, the SilerQuesnel portion is the only section they expect to complete this construction season, which ends when winter begins. The following season, she added, they’ll be able to tackle everything from Cantu Hill onward, implying completion by 2024.

One community member asked if the Paseo construction from Albright to Siler will be complete before they continue to Cantu Hill, including the still-not-functioning traffic light at Albright Street, asking, “part of our town will be put back together before they start tearing more up?”

“That’s the goal,” Serna replied. Meanwhile, local businesses have been losing business due to the ongoing construction, especially when it comes to parking. Taos’ longstanding breakfast restaurant, Taos Diner, closed its southside location last year, partly due to the construction. While some businesses have seen contractor’s vehicles parked in their lots, other businesses, like ReThreads, have had their parking spaces halved by the project.

“The construction’s during our height in tourism,” one community member said. “I do think we have to be sensitive with how we address the business issues. I do think, if there were more timely meetings, that would be helpful and show some good faith from the department that they’re really trying to work with the public — knowing the hardships that the community’s going to go through. I do think, the more public outreach — where people don’t have to go to a website, they can talk to someone and at least understand better what to expect, so then they can make decisions for their business.”

Serna and Brasher both agreed this would be a good idea, the former suggesting a monthly meeting to offer updates and suggestions to local business owners.

The current phase of the road project, Phase 2-B, originally began in September 2021 and was set to be completed in 2022.

Along with drainage, a main objective for the project is to install ADA-compliant sidewalks and other infrastructure. For now, commuters are required to go 25 miles per hour in work zones.

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2023-05-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://taosnews.pressreader.com/article/282381223916774

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