'Great strides' made in talks over bridge

SAN JON — Quay County’s manager told the San Jon Municipal Schools board last week that “great strides” had been made between the contractor and architect on insurance talks regarding a washed-out bridge.

Flash flooding in late May destroyed a $4 million low water bridge on Old Route 66 just days from completion. The contractor, Vital Consulting Group, claims its contract from architect Stantec Engineering did not require builder’s insurance. Stantec disputes that.

The 1931 bridge still stood after the flood, but county manager Daniel Zamora told the school board during its Oct. 11 regular meeting the county was reluctant to spend thousands of dollars on repairs on the old bridge.

Zamora said there was no confirmation from the state the old bridge would be certified for traffic use if repairs were made.

Citing a 2022 inspection by the New Mexico Department of Transportation, the report stated in red type: “BRIDGE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED FOR REPLACEMENT.”

The report recommended repairs that included cleaning the deck, removing and redoing the overlay, replacing decayed timbers, smoothing the approaches, upgrade a guardrail, install paddle boards, repair the undercutting of the slope blanket and install warning signs for a posted load limit of 8 tons.

Zamora said he wasn’t sure how much damage the old bridge had sustained from the May floods. He also said because the old bridge holds historical significance, repairing it would be much more expensive.

Zamora said he has instructed Vital and Stantec to send their experts by Nov. 1 to the area to inspect it and clean debris from the destroyed bridge if allowable.

He said there might be a possibility of building an “emergency” path through the arroyo that small cars — but not large vehicles — could traverse.

Zamora said he understood the loss of the bridge was “a huge issue for this community and the school district.”

School board President Frank Gibson, a local rancher, previously said he must drive 30 miles to get around the closed stretch of road.

Zamora said after weeks of both sides pointing fingers, Vital and Stantec recently have made “great strides” during their discussions of insurance coverage, but no deal was imminent.

Zamora also said an open question was whether Stantec engineered the new bridge properly. He said county officials would discuss an “appropriate” design for the replacement bridge before construction begins.

According to documents obtained by the Quay County Sun from an open-records request, Stantec recommended a bridge on that road that would account for a five-year storm, or one that would occur every five years.

The National Weather Service reported the late May storm was a 500-year event in severity, which meant it had a 1-in-500 chance of occurring any given year. Six to eight inches of rain fell in the region in less than 12 hours.

Board members asked Zamora to contact the state and ask it to blade the surface of Highway 93 south of Russell’s Travel Center near Endee. That stretch of highway is gravel.

In other business:

— Principal Sharla Rusk talked about intervention efforts to boost students’ proficiency in math and reading using the DreamBox program.

Rusk said in September and October, teachers were seeing “grade-level growth” from students.

“I see growth happening with the kids,” she said, adding that teachers said they were “impressed’ with DreamBox.

Rusk said smaller but significant improvement was seen in reading proficiency. She expressed hope for greater improvement as the school year progresses.

— Superintendent Alan Umholtz said instead of a monthly award for school employees voted by peers, he would implement a “spotlight” for a staff member twice a month. The honor would come with posted letters of appreciation from students.