New Mexico faces $5.6B road repair backlog, no funding in sight
New Mexico has $5.6 billion worth necessary transportation projects to do but no funding for the work, according to the state Department of Transportation.
“We can’t afford to fall further behind in tackling the list of road projects needed statewide,” New Mexico Department of Transportation Cabinet Secretary Ricky Serna said in a statement.
The number of New Mexico roads in acceptable condition dropped from 75% in 2011 to 69% in 2023. The cost of fixing this infrastructure surpasses the currently available funds, so the state may need to raise existing taxes or create new ones, according to NMDOT.
This could be done by changing how the state distributes vehicle tax sales and instating delivery surcharges or road user charges, Serna told lawmakers.
The state could also raise its 17-center per gallon gasoline tax, which has not been changed since 1996. New Mexico now earns the fourth-least amount from gas taxes and the ninth-least from diesel taxes in the country.
“It’s just been, in my opinion, a failure of government not to incrementally and reasonably increase the gas tax over the last 30 years,” said State Sen. Antonio Maestas, D-Albuquerque.
A one-cent gas tax increase would generate about $6.6 million in annual revenue, NMDOT Chief Economist Michael Morrison told lawmakers.
NMDOT already tried to address the funding issue with a bill this legislative session. The policy would have raised the state’s weight-distance tax on commercial traffic and vehicle registration fees, as well as create a new electric vehicle surcharge.
The state House of Representatives unanimously passed the bill, but it did not advance in the New Mexico Senate.
New Mexico drivers already pay an average of $2,074 a year because of the deteriorating roads. Associated costs include vehicle maintenance, congestion and safety charges.
The annual cost of substandard roads is even higher for New Mexicans in the Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces areas.