The New Mexico Department of Transportation did not receive any nonrecurring funds this year to support construction projects.
This has Rep. Cynthia Borrego, D-Albuquerque, concerned that projects could be delayed and that will lead to increased costs.
Transportation Secretary Ricky Serna presented the information on construction funding during an interim Transportation Infrastructure Revenue subcommittee meeting Thursday in Santa Fe.
According to information Serna provided the state lawmakers, the legislature and governor have appropriated more than $1.8 billion in nonrecurring funding to the department since 2019 and the bulk of that money supported construction and maintenance projects. However, this year, the budget bill didn’t include any nonrecurring funds for construction in 2025.
“We were looking at $150 million for at least a couple of major construction projects that are attached to federal awards,” Serna said.
Serna said the lack of nonrecurring funds means that the department will not undertake new construction projects.
“We’ll essentially maintain momentum on the projects that are currently under construction,” he said. “We’ll continue to get projects through planning and design and on a shelf for construction.”
However, he said every year a project sits on the “shelf” it becomes more expensive to construct.
For example, the border connector highway project had an $85 million gap in funding at the start of the legislative session, but that has since increased to $126 million, according to Serna.
“It’s one thing to get things planned and designed, but if they’re sitting on the shelf for five years, or however many years, the cost of materials…it usually doubles by that time,” Borrego said. “And I think those are issues that we really need to be concerned with.”