Hobbs get $2 million grant for highway improvements
Caleb A. Gallegos/News-Sun
Although it has miles of character, in Monday’s City of Hobbs Commission meeting, commissioners and Mayor Sam Cobb paved the way for improvements on West County Road after authorizing a Grant Agreement with New Mexico Department of Transportation in the amount of $2 million.
General Services Director Sheila Baker, captained the presentation, detailing how the grant agreement with NMDOT will allow the City of Hobbs to “plan, design and construct improvements on N.M. Highway 208.
“The City of Hobbs has received a capital appropriation in the amount of $2 million from the New Mexico Department of Transportation to plan, design and construct, including mill and overlay and striping, on New Mexico Highway 208,” Baker said.
West County Road is a three and a half mile bypass from Lovington Highway to Carlsbad Highway, Baker said. West County Road carries the second-greatest annual Average Daily Traffic Count of all bypass roads in the city, second only to Joe Harvey Boulevard.
“It (West County Road) has 16,965 AADT, with 14 percent being (Federal Highway Administration) class 4 and above, which are medium and heavy trucks, which means there is approximately 2,400 medium and heavy vehicles per day on that bypass,” Baker explained.
Baker then explained there was a 61 percent increase in AADT recorded on West County Road between 2020 and 2022. If the rate of traffic increase remains steady, the road will “deteriorate” faster, which Baker said expedites the need for mill and overlay.
“The completion of the mill and overlay will be removing the top asphalt and replacing it with new asphalt, so it preserves the surface so there is no water getting into the sub-grade of that pavement structure, it increases the strength and provides a better rideable surface,” Baker explained.
Baker told commissioners and Mayor Cobb, they are looking forward to a fast start because once the three and a half mile project is complete, “there is still 10 miles of road that is in need of mill and overlay.”
All commissioners and Mayor Cobb unanimously agree to authorize the grant agreement. No timeline for the project was discussed at the meeting.
