Expect delays as pipeline work starts on NM 68
$14M project will last to end-Nov.
Drivers will be under threat of slow-and-go traffic beginning Tuesday if they take a popular stretch of canyon road along the Rio Grande between the northern New Mexico villages of Rinconada and Pilar.
Expect delays of between 15 to 30 minutes in the six-mile stretch of N.M. 68 — a two-lane highway with views of the river and high cliffs that sees plenty of local and tourist traffic throughout the year — due to construction of a natural gas pipeline in the right of way along the northbound lane.
The $14 million project of the New Mexico Gas Company is expected to last until the end of November. Until then, drivers coming from either direction take turns waiting, then being led by pilot cars through a single lane 24 hours a day, seven days a week, said Tim Korte, spokesman for the gas utility.
Construction will take place 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
Neil Nobles, owner of the roadside Sugar’s bar-
becue in Embudo south of Rinconada, said he learned about the project from a reporter a few weeks ago. Nobles, who was preparing some menu items last Friday, said he’s worried that fans of his brisket and burgers from up north in Red River won’t be coming down the highway for a bite.
“I think it’s going to have an impact,” Nobles said.
Meanwhile, New Wave Rafting vice president Steve Miller said he’s concerned the first two weeks of the project will disrupt the “land office” business in end-of-summer rafters that he and other commercial raft companies depend on. New Wave employs eight people; other, larger companies employ more, he said. There are 15 commercial rafters who run this portion of the river.
The construction area coincides in part with the Rio Grande Racecourse, a popular stretch of water that begins at Pilar with a take-out at the Taos/Rio Arriba county line north of Rinconada.
Some rafting companies with permits to put in near Pilar often have customers arrive at the Rio Grande Gorge Visitors Center parking lot in Pilar.
Others transport customers north up via N.M. 68 to Pilar, either all the way from Santa Fe to or from a parking lot at the county line near Rinconda, or the put-in and will have go through the construction zone.
Getting sometimes distracted raft-trip ticket holders to the right spot, on time, is a challenge even without construction, Miller said. Adding 30-minute delays is going to play havoc with the choreography at the tootight raft-trip launch site, he said.
Rafting permit holders had asked the utility to put off construction until mid-August, when many out-of-state tourists have to returned to school, Miller said.
However, the project is expected to take four months and utility officials are concerned that winter weather could delay completion, said the gas company’s Korte.
“The paving has to be complete before the cold weather begins,” he said. The Aug. 1 start date is necessary, he said.
The rafting companies’ concerns are important — utility representatives met with the commercial rafters before other public meetings began in April, Korte said.
“We’re hoping to minimize the impact on their business,” Korte said.
Utility representatives made presentations to public bodies from Angel Fire to Española, he said, as well as to state agencies such as the Department of Tourism and State Police. The utility contacted tourism-focused business associations, and distributed 5,000 fliers for visitors’ kiosks at restaurants and other tourist sites. The company also contacted an association of commercial truckers and two motorcycle businesses.
The new pipeline will replace one that is on the west side of the canyon and supplies natural gas to 16,000 customers in Taos, Questa and Red River. The current pipeline has been subject to unstable soils and three landslides. The utility began work on changing the pipeline’s location in 2014. Public comment via the Bureau of Land Management began in 2015 and an environmental assessment was completed in 2016. Final approval occurred in April, according to the utility’s online answers to “frequently asked questions” on the project.
Three alternate routes for motorists are being suggested, but they aren’t detours, Korte said. The alternative routes, which include a portion of the scenic High Road to Taos, may see more traffic and, for businesses along the way, more customers.
Traffic will continue through N.M. 68, just at a slower rate. The northbound lane between Mile Marker 24 and Mile Marker 30 will be closed a mile at a time for construction and the construction will move north to south, the gas company says.
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