Gallup Mayor Louie Bonaguidi officially cut the ribbon on Phase I of Gallup’s Coal Avenue Commons public infrastructure project on August 24, 2021! This project broke ground on July 13, 2020 and has been in the works since 2017. The City received a NEA Our Town Grant which was matched by contributions from local government, institutions, and organizations.
Coal Avenue Commons transformed two downtown blocks into a vibrant plaza street suited for events, pedestrian safety, and accessibility. It’s the result of a strong partnership between the City of Gallup, gallupARTS, Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments, Gallup Business Improvement District, and Gallup MainStreet Arts & Cultural District. The project team engaged the local community on the design process during several creative placemaking activities and presentations including a kickoff event “Start Something Big,” a wordle mural, a hands-on community workshop, “Chalk the Walk” ArtsCrawl, parklet competition, public voting on three conceptual designs, and a city council presentation.
Gallup MainStreet Arts & Cultural District provided construction mitigation with Murphy Builders throughout 2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic) by providing routine updates on the project’s progress in their email newsletter and in the local newspaper, engaging local businesses on street access, and encouraging the local community to support downtown businesses during construction. Free parking and pedestrian access was available during construction to encourage locals to shop, eat, and play downtown.
Phase I of the project:
- Replaced storm sewers, sidewalks, and pedestrian walkways
- Installed new street & decorative lighting, underground utilities, trench draining, benches, bike racks, foliage, and a pergola
- Repaired the streets
This project was supported by:
- City of Gallup over $2.1 million in general funds and grant matches, personnel support for project management
- Municipal Arterial Program (MAP) through the New Mexico Department of Transportation $950,833
- New Mexico MainStreet Capital Outlay Grant to Gallup MainStreet Arts & Cultural District $800,000
- Legislative appropriation with efforts from Senators John Pinto and George Munoz, Representatives Patty Lundstrom and Wanda Jackson $677,000
- National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Grant to gallupARTS $150,000
- McKinley County grant match $50,000
- Gallup Business Improvement grant match $25,000
- McCune Foundation grant match for Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments $25,000
- Special recognition goes to Murphy Builders, Bixby Electric, Eagle Ready Mix, Sites Southwest, Wilson & Company, and all the other vendors who made Phase I possible.
Phase II will be initiated in the near future!
Watch a video of the ribbon cutting on Facebook!