Torrance County Opens the Doors on New Road Department Facility

State Senator Liz Stefanics, State Representative Stefani Lord, County Commissioners Kevin McCall and Sam Schropp, County Commissioner-elect/County Clerk Linda Jaramillo, and County Manager Janice Barela were on hand for the August 13, 2024, ribbon-cutting at the new Torrance County Road Department facility on Salt Missions Road in Estancia.

County Manager Barela opened with a mention of how former County Commissioner Leroy Candelaria, now deceased, had worked on the Road Department building project. Both Barela and County Commissioner Schropp commented on the work done by Senator Stefanics and Representative Lord to help finance and approve the new building.

Road Department Superintendent Leonard Lujan explained that this building had begun as an idea 14 years ago, and he was pleased to see it completed before he retired in eight months. Lujan said that the space provided by the new building, roughly the size of an airplane hangar, would mean that the Road Department could keep gravel piles and culverts on hand for faster road repairs. Lujan described the former Road Department offices as a single-wide trailer from the mid-1970s and stressed that having a much larger covered space would make vehicle repairs much easier.

B & R Construction Company of Moriarty worked on the new Road Department building. Ben Spence, present at the ribbon-cutting on behalf of B & R Construction, said that the project cost $1.1 million and took eight months to complete. B & R Construction specializes in metal buildings; Spence said that the company was moving on to work on a student activities center for Highlands University and an office complex for an Albuquerque roofing company.