Participants at the Dec. 2 T-Board meeting, clockwise from top left, Carol Brown of the NNSA Los Alamos Field Office, T-Board Chair David North, Pete Maggiore of the Los Alamos Field Office and T-Board members Georgia  Strickfaden, Michael Dolejsi and Councilor Denise Derkacs. LADP screenshot 

By KIRSTEN LAKSEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

It’s been a long time coming but construction on the N.M. 4 and East Jemez Road intersection is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2022.

The Los Alamos County Transportation Board was updated on the project to improve this intersection during its regular meeting Dec. 2.

Carol Brown, a federal project manager at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Los Alamos Field Office, said she has worked on this project since design work started in 2017.

Looking at photos of the intersection during Brown’s presentation, it’s clear that the intersection needs attention: the asphalt has degraded and buckled, and the paint has faded.

“We all know it is in desperate need of a full depth reconstruction,” she said.

This project involves many different players and includes a variety of pieces. NNSA is funding the project, New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) will execute and manage the construction, the National Park Service (NPS) is creating a new parking lot for Tsankawi Trail, which is part of Bandelier National Monument, and Los Alamos County assisted with the design plans for the improved intersection.

Regarding the improvements to the intersection, Brown said three main things are being planned. A fourth leg is being added that will connect to the new parking lot for Tsankawi. Four lanes are being added as well. Two for traffic coming to White Rock from Santa Fe and two for traffic coming from the Laboratory to Santa Fe. Brown said this should handle double the amount of traffic. Additionally, she said hundreds of feet of merge lanes are being added.

When asked what was being considered for bicyclists, Brown said cyclists’ safety was taken into consideration with four-foot shoulders outside of the intersection. She added that if cyclists are not comfortable riding in the intersection, they can safely enter the intersection, get off their bike, use the cross walk and then ride on the shoulder of the road.

The new Tsankawi parking lot as well as the intersection improvements will happen at the same time. Brown said the intersection is widening so the current dirt parking lot will be removed. The existing parking lot isn’t particularly safe; Brown pointed out that if a large RV needs to back up, it has to back up on N.M. 4.

This project requires a lot of coordination, she said. Coordination is needed between the public, County and emergency services. Brown stressed that communication is important, and that people can access updates on the project, once it begins, on NMDOT’s NMRoad Map, through press releases submitted to the County and the County’s Cone Zone. Laboratory employees also may access information about the project on the LANL homepage. There will be marquees and signs around the intersection, too.

Brown praised the County and its staff during her Dec. 2 presentation for its work assisting in designing the improvements to the intersection. She said while the intersection is located on Santa Fe County land, “we probably all think of it as the Los Alamos County intersection because County residents use it.”

Brown added that the County has been an integral part of designing the project.

“You guys know what County residents need the most … we really enjoyed working with Los Alamos County,” she said. “We hope to keep working with Los Alamos County, emergency services and … I think eventually the plan is for the intersection to be transferred to Los Alamos County … that is the long-term plan.”

Acting Public Works Director Jon Bulthuis spoke to the Los Alamos Daily Post Tuesday about the potential transfer.

He explained that the transfer would be excess real estate that the state may transfer to the County under a mutual agreement. Several areas are being considered for future transfer and the intersection is one of them. Bulthuis said the transfer wouldn’t occur until the project is finished and the road is open to the public.

The County will continue to be active in the project, he said.

“The County will engage DOT and NNSA as they finalize the design and get traffic control plans approved … that is where I think we have the most interest in the construction package,” Bulthuis said, adding that the County is happy to see this project reach fruition.

“This is a project that the County has supported for many years, so we are thankful to see not only that the money was made available but that it is happening now rather than many years down the road … the end results will definitely be worth it,” he said.

Brown presented background information on the project. In January 2016, the former management and operating contractor for the laboratory, LANS, and New Mexico Environment Department reached a settlement agreement for potential penalties associated with the 2014 contamination event at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant 26 miles southeast of Carlsbad. In the agreement, the Department of Energy would pay up to $3.5 million for five supplemental environmental projects. Also, the NNSA agreed to pay up to $12 million to improve DOE-owned transportation routes that are used to carry transuranic waste to Carlsbad.

With that money, “we completed the mill overlay or re-pavement of East Jemez Road, which is the truck route … we repaved N.M. 4 all the way down to Totavi,” Brown said. “This was a great project because it connected our new pavement to NMDOT’s new pavement all the way down to Pojoaque. This is really great; the new intersection is going to complete that work.”

However, the $12 million wouldn’t cover the intersection improvements so NNSA agreed to fund an additional $3.5 million.

Some concerns were raised during the Transportation Board meeting. Joni Arends of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety said the organization submitted comments about the flood plain near the intersection as well as drainage. They hadn’t received any responses, she said.

Brown said public comment was taken into consideration when the flood plain assessment was conducted. She added that the intersection improvements do not change the flood plain pattern.

As more details are developed for the road improvement project such as plans and detailed schedules, they will be shared, Brown said.

Bulthuis encourages people to attend future Transportation Board meetings to learn more about the project updates when it is on the board’s agenda.