Bouncing Back

It started out as a controlled Forest Service burn in May 2000, but by the time it was extinguished two months later, the Cerro Grande Fire in Los Alamos, N.M., destroyed more than 48,000 acres of pristine forest.

Nearly 250 structures were also lost, and 11,000 residents were forced to flee as the fire consumed their homes and businesses.

Now, the small mountain community is tackling the rebuilding process in earnest with funds from the federal and state governments to rebuild 8.5- mi. of residential streets and thousands of feet of new utilities.

Albuquerque's AUI Inc. recently embarked on a two-year, $24 million project to get the area back on its feet. AUI Inc. won two phases of the project, which started in September.

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Twin Mountain Construction of Albuquerque is also working on a phase, concentrating on drainage issues in the area. Project engineers included the Albuquerque offices of URS Corp. and CDM.

"The damage to the streets came from the heavy equipment fighting the fires and then with the amount of construction rebuilding homes, it all compounds the wear and tear," said AUI lead project manager Sam Garrell. "After the fire, we had rain and it jammed up the culverts with silt and they flooded over and washed out parts of the road. There's just a lot of work to be done."

Contractors have a lot of digging on the project, which calls for 38,000 lin. ft. of new electrical duct banking, 45,000 lin. ft. of new water line, 16,000 lin. ft. of new gutter and the removal and replacement of 145,000 sq. yds of asphalt. Most of the new waterline is 8-in. ductile pipe, but some sections contain 48-in. high density polyethane.

The work is taking place in a congested area, with contractors competing for space with local residential construction crews and with traffic on the small, narrow roads.
Keeping traffic moving through the construction site is one of the biggest headaches facing crews.

"Access is the key to this job," said AUI utility project manager Gary Huffman. "It's a constant battle trying to do our work while keeping access open, but the residents have been good to work with. They understand you have to give a little to get a little."

Crews are employing milling machines to take up much of the asphalt and will reuse the tailings as a base course for the new asphalt roads. Many of the roads have steep, 12 percent grades, and on top of cold weather, paving the new roads has been a juggling act.

Crews are concentrating on the utility work in the winter and plan to begin paving this summer.

"It's the beginning of closure," Garrell said. "We are seeing more and more homes being rebuilt and a lot of old homes are being replaced. It's going to take time, but it's going to happen.