federal money secured for los lunas railroad park project

A master-planned regional rail-served industrial park near Los Lunas may see the construction of 21,000 feet of water pipeline, now that funding has been secured from Washington.

The Economic Development Administration wing of the Commerce Department has awarded a $1.3 million grant to build the pipeline inside the Central New Mexico Rail Park.

That park, opened in late 2016 and geared for companies requiring a rail connection, sits on more than 1,400 acres off of New Mexico Highway 6.

According to the EDA, the grant will fund “critical water infrastructure improvements needed to support business development in the region.”

In a statement, Wilbur Ross, the Secretary of the Commerce Department, noted that the “increased capacity of the local water infrastructure will improve the competitiveness of Los Lunas’s business community.”

The EDA funds the Mid-Region Council of Governments in an effort to combine public and private sector interests with the goal of enhancing regional economic developments like the Central New Mexico Rail Park.

By Garry Boulard