Roosevelt County Commissioners declined to apply for a state highway improvement project.

The commissioners motioned and voted against applying for the New Mexico Department of Transportation Statewide Transportation Improvement Program for N.M. 88.

To fix N.M. 88 properly, the entire road would have to be torn apart and widened, with a projected cost of $20 million, said Commission Chairman David Sanders. 

The county’s match for the project would be $1.2 million to repair the 21 miles of N.M. 88.

During Tuesday’s regular meeting, Roosevelt County Manager Charlene Hardin advised the commissioners against submitting the STIP application.

If enrolled in the STIP program the County would be responsible for committing more than $1 million of county funds for the project, Hardin said.

“I don’t think we can justify spending that much money on a state highway,” Sanders said.“It is difficult enough to allocate funding to maintain all of the county roadways.”

Sanders said that many people living in District 1, where N.M. 88 runs through, have complained about the road’s condition.

“The percentage of money that the county would have to match for the project would have to be taken out of the county reserve,” Sanders said.

Known also as STIP, the program is the state’s four-year multi-modal transportation preservation and capital improvement program. according to the NMDOT Web site.