Surprise: NMDOT Plans Road Closures for the Next Four Weeks
On the morning of Saturday, June 7, 2025, a road crew blocked traffic on US-60, just east of the Turner Inn on the edge of Mountainair. When asked how long the wait would be, the flagman, wearing a balaclava for sun protection, explained it should be an hour or so. A couple, returning home to Iowa from a trip to visit national parks and monuments in New Mexico, got out of their silver Volkswagen sedan and began to stretch their backs on the side of the road. They both had white hair and wore matching yellow shorts and white polo shirts. Behind their vehicle sat a filthy green SUV, covered in dust, and a red semi carrying cows in a ventilated trailer. By Monday, US-60 was closed in the center of Mountainair for what New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) described as a “roadway renewal project.” I contacted NMDOT regarding the road closure on Monday after learning that US-60 was closed through the center of town.
“Oh, there was plenty of notice,” NMDOT Public Information Officer (PIO) Jim Murray said of the road closure for the project, “I just didn’t know of your existence.”
I reminded Murray that he and I spoke at length in November 2023 following a contentious press conference he hosted with John Taschek of Barr Engineering Company regarding the US-60 widening project (Murray confirmed that this was separate from the roadway renewal project currently taking place in Mountainair). When asked if Murray had provided notice to Mountainair’s municipal government that NMDOT would be closing US-60/Broadway today, he indicated he had sent a press release to Mountainair Mayor Peter Nieto. Murray said he had not notified Torrance County. "As for county people," Murray said, "I'm still compiling [a list of people to contact] because it changes constantly...."
Murray stated that residents of Mountainair could expect the road renewal project to take place on US-60 between mile markers 195 and 215, and that the project is anticipated to be completed by June 27, 2025, provided there are no delays due to rain or other circumstances. Murray said that the road crew working on this project would be working from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, Monday through Saturday, and that residents could expect daily road closures between those hours.
Murray said the roadwork is considered a "hot-in-place" road renewal project.
The contractor uses a special machine - a series of them - and what happens is at the front [of the first machine], it mills up the old layer of roadway and sends it back to be rejuvenated with an oil process and then literally lays it out at the back end, and then the same asphalt is just reused. It's a long group of machines that do it, but, basically, once they move past [a section of roadway], they're done [with that section.]
I asked Murray if there was a public notice website for this project, similar to the one for the US-60 road widening project. "Since this is just a maintenance project, really, and it's only going to last three or four weeks, they're not going to set - nobody's setting up a website for this."
Regarding the US-60 road widening project, which is separate from the current roadwork, Murray stated that the project is still expected to begin in 2026. Murray described the US-60 widening project as still in the fundraising stage.
When asked whether notice was provided in any news source of the upcoming road closures, Murray said, "Well, here's the thing, all right, when I send [press releases] out ... it's up to those entities whether they want to [publish them]...."