HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 55

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Patricia A. Lundstrom

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE CREATION OF A MUNICIPAL ROAD MAINTENANCE TASK FORCE TO INVESTIGATE EQUITABLE WAYS OF PROVIDING FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF STATE HIGHWAYS WITHIN MUNICIPAL BOUNDARIES.

     WHEREAS, the department of transportation has limited funding to address the maintenance needs of all state highways for which it has maintenance responsibility; and

     WHEREAS, the annual cost to the department of transportation for routine maintenance of approximately seven hundred twenty miles of state highway that are located within the boundaries of municipalities is estimated to be more than two million dollars ($2,000,000); and

     WHEREAS, municipalities should be increasingly responsible for the maintenance of state highways that are located within their boundaries;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the governor be requested to appoint a municipal road maintenance task force, whose members shall include representatives of the department of transportation, the New Mexico association of counties, the New Mexico municipal league, the regional planning organizations and the municipal planning organizations; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the governor be requested to designate the department of transportation to provide administrative support to the municipal road maintenance task force and that the task force prepare a report to the governor and legislature that provides information regarding the mileage of, state of the maintenance of and traffic load extent on state highways within the boundaries of municipalities; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the municipal road maintenance task force be requested to investigate ways in which the responsibility for maintaining and improving state highways within the boundaries of municipalities might equitably be transferred to an appropriate degree to municipalities rather than the department of transportation; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the municipal road maintenance task force present its report to the governor and to the appropriate interim legislative committees by October 1, 2007; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the secretary of transportation, the president of the New Mexico association of counties, the executive director of the New Mexico municipal league, each of the regional planning organizations and each of the municipal planning organizations.

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