New Mexico
New Mexico congressional delegation announces more than $172M for transportation projects
The Rail Runner arriving at the Santa Fe Depot (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
The U.S. Department of Transportation has will provide more than $172 million for a swath of New Mexico transportation projects, the state’s congressional delegation announced Tuesday.
The federal funding comes via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and “reflects” the law’s intention, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) said in a statement: to ” improve safety for everyone using our roads, grow local economies, lower transportation costs, and create high-quality jobs New Mexicans can build their families around.”
The funded projects include:
• $61.8 million to the City of Las Cruces for the Mesa Grande Drive Extension Project
• $44.8 million for the state Department of Transportation for the Allison Road Grade Separated Crossing Project, which will support improvements to BNSF Railway infrastructure and Amtrak’s Southwest Chief route in Gallup, New Mexico
• $36.1 million to the state transportation project for reconstruction of two segments on the NM 128 mainline and three major intersections at WIPP Road, Buck Jackson and Orla roads in Carlsbad
• $22.4 million to the Rio Metro Regional Transit District to construct a new Rail Runner expression operations and maintenance facility
• $3.3 million for McKinely County/BNSF’s rail crossing elimination project
• $2 million for the City of Gallup for its 2nd and 3rd street crossings community planning project
• $1 million for the City of Clovis for its New Mexico Corridor Improvement Project
• $480,913 to the Mescalero Apache Tribe for a snowplow and salt spreader
• $158,448 to the Pueblo of Taos for capital improvements for two of the pueblo’s bus stops to upgrade them to American with Disabilities Act standards
“These projects will ensure safer roads for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists, while making our rail systems safer and strengthening the links between our communities,” U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) said in a statement
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico plans to build new gates at four campus entrances along Central that will close nightly.
The gates will replace manual barriers in a project expected to cost about $1.5 million.
The Board of Regents approved the security upgrades for the UNM campus.
University officials said the gates will automatically close nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The gates will go in near Princeton Drive, Stanford Drive, Yale Boulevard and Terrace Street on the south end of campus.
A current rendering shows the gate completely blocking the road. Officials said the change will reduce unauthorized traffic and allow police officers to focus more effectively on prevention and response.
Construction will start in May. University officials hope to finish the project by September.
A 9-year-old boy who begged to be released from an immigration detention center so he could attend his state spelling bee has been freed with his family, their lawyer said Wednesday.
Deiver Henao Jimenez made the plea during a video call this month with children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Accurso.
“I don’t want to be here anymore,” Deiver said on the call, which was later shared on Accurso’s social media pages. “Nothing is good here.”
He and his parents, asylum-seekers from Colombia, had been held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas since early March, when they were detained during a routine immigration check-in in New Mexico, according to their lawyer, Corey Sullivan Martin.
ICE freed the family on humanitarian parole Wednesday, about a week after Martin filed a request for their release and days after NBC News reported on their case.
His elementary school principal wrote a letter in mid-March supporting the family’s release, which was later delivered to immigration officials, describing Deiver as “a dedicated student with excellent attendance and high marks.”
Sullivan Martin said Deiver is eager to return to school, rejoin his gifted and talented classes and get back to practicing his spelling words.
“I don’t see how it was necessary at all to detain a child who was doing exactly what we want children to do,” Sullivan Martin said.
The family planned to return to New Mexico, she said, where they will continue checking in with immigration officials while their case proceeds.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Deiver was released a day after ICE freed another child whose case drew widespread attention following a video call with Accurso. Gael, a 5-year-old boy with developmental disabilities, had experienced worsening medical issues while he was detained at Dilley, his parents said.
The facility has faced growing scrutiny from immigration lawyers and advocates, who say children there have struggled to access adequate medical care and education in an environment where lights remain on around the clock and officers stand guard. Some families have described poor food and long waits for medical attention.
DHS has disputed those accounts, saying families are provided appropriate care in a facility designed for their needs.
After her video meetings with the children, Accurso — known for her signature pink headband and singsong delivery — called for Dilley to be shut down and for families to be returned to their communities.
During their conversation, Deiver told Accurso he missed his friends and said the food at Dilley made his stomach hurt. But he was most worried about getting out in time to compete in New Mexico’s state spelling bee in May after he earned a spot by placing third at a regional competition.
“We’re trying to get a child out of a jail to do a spelling bee,” Accurso said last week. “I just never thought those words would go together.”
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