Gorge road delays will continue for pipeline work

TAOS — Construction on a new gas pipeline in the Rio Grande Gorge was on track to be finished by December until some rocks got in the way.

The realignment of Taos’ main supply line for natural gas was scheduled for completion before December, when temperatures are generally too cold to do construction. However, the project will push past that deadline and potentially the beginning of the new year, according to Tim Korte, spokesman for New Mexico Gas Co.

Technical challenges presented by rock underneath N.M. 68 — as well as issues with storing dirt and coordinating its delivery — have drawn out construction. “We knew this was going to be a complex project,” Korte said, “but it turned out to be even more complex than we anticipated.”

Traffic has been slow on N.M. 68 — the main highway in the Rio Grande Gorge — since construction of 7 miles of new, in-ground pipeline began in August. The gas company, with the blessing of the state Transportation Department, closed one-lane of the twolane highway. According to Korte, crews will work through Nov. 22, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and resume construction the following Monday. Lane closures will remain in effect.

Crews will stop work by Dec. 21, right before the holiday season. “Whether the project is completed or not, we will have the barriers removed and the road fully reopened by noon on Friday, Dec. 22,” Korte said. “We will leave the road open through Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.”

Concrete barriers will be reinstalled as the work is finished.

A version of this story first appeared on the website of The Taos News, a sister paper to The New Mexican.