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Dirt Road Maintenance
The City maintains dirt roads within City Limits as the budget and conditions allow. The goal of this maintenance is to provide access to residents who live off of these roads. Residents who live off of dirt roads should understand that their roads will become bumpy from "washboarding", are dusty during the dry weather, and can become muddy and rutted during wet weather. During inclement weather access for residents is defined as one passable lane with access to one driveway per household; during these times it is advisable for residents to use a high clearance vehicle to access their property and utilize these roads.
City Staff strives to provide the best service possible, however, given our resources and manpower we cannot provide services on demand, and are sometimes unable to provide services for weeks at a time. We prioritize our services to higher traffic volume roads over lower traffic volume roads so that we can provide the most service to the most residents as possible.
Per New Mexico State Law, Chapter 3, Article 33 NMSA, 1978 Improvement Districts the City cannot pave local roads for residents. If you would like to investigate paving your road, please visit our Special Assessment District (SAD) page.
When reporting issues please use the Report Rio Rancho application.
City Staff strives to provide the best service possible, however, given our resources and manpower we cannot provide services on demand, and are sometimes unable to provide services for weeks at a time. We prioritize our services to higher traffic volume roads over lower traffic volume roads so that we can provide the most service to the most residents as possible.
Per New Mexico State Law, Chapter 3, Article 33 NMSA, 1978 Improvement Districts the City cannot pave local roads for residents. If you would like to investigate paving your road, please visit our Special Assessment District (SAD) page.
When reporting issues please use the Report Rio Rancho application.
Dirt Road Grading:
- Frequency:
- Dirt roads are graded based upon the volume of traffic using the roads.
- Roads with high traffic volumes are graded more frequently (weekly or bi-weekly) as conditions permit.
- Lower traffic volume roads are graded less frequently (tri-weekly or monthly) as conditions permit.
- A following schedule has been created. Please see below:
- The City strives to maintain the schedule, however;
- The City has four (4) graders, when one (1) or more is inoperable then the grading schedule will be impacted.
- After a storm the grading schedule is adjusted to repair storm impacted roads. Storms can impact the grading schedule for up to four (4) months.
Dust Suppressant:
A dust suppressant helps stabilize the road base, minimize dust, and eliminate the need for regular grading for approximately 6-8 months depending on the number of vehicles using the road on a daily basis. The City prioritizes and applies dust suppressant to highly traveled roads. Additionally, the City does not apply this dust suppressant to the same roads every year. Applying dust suppressant to roads is based on available funding. This year, funding allowed for the treatment to be applied to about 1 mile of the approximately 133 miles of dirt roads. As such, the dust suppressant will be applied to 19th Street SE from Westside Boulevard to Vargas Road. If more funding becomes available for the application of dust suppressant, Public Works will re-evaluate how many roads will receive the treatment.
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