university of new mexico planning more than $8 million in branch campus facility work

Work on a variety of construction and update projects on four branch campuses belonging to the University of New Mexico could launch next year depending upon the results of a bond proposal in next month’s election.

The proposed General Obligation Bond C is asking for more than $155 million in facility work for all of the state’s higher institutions of learning. Of that amount, $51.4 will go to UNM for projects on the school’s main Albuquerque campus, as well as four branch campuses in Gallup, Los Alamos, Taos, and Valencia.

The Gallup campus will receive $3 million for work on its popular Center for Career Technology, Education, and Innovation facilities. The facilities, which house classes for the school’s many work force training programs, are said to be currently lacking in both functionality and size.

Exactly $1.7 million will go to UNM’s Los Alamos branch campus for the modernization of laboratory space; while $2 million is slated for the Taos branch campus for roadway, drainage, and parking improvements.

A final $1.5 million will target fire suppression and alarm system upgrades at the university’s Valencia branch campus.
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General Obligation Bond proposals specifically targeting higher education facility projects are presented to the voters of New Mexico every two years, and with the exception of 2010 during the Great Recession, are usually approved.

​By Garry Boulard

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