BOSQUE FARMS — Drivers coming through the village of Bosque Farms at night on the boulevard should have a brighter path by year’s end.

Bosque Farms Mayor Chris Gillespie told the News-Bulletin the village has confirmation from the New Mexico Department of Transportation that new LED light fixtures will be put up to replace existing, nonworking fixtures.

In a Sept. 10 email, Andrew J. Gallegos, the NMDOT state maintenance bureau chief, informed the mayor the new fixtures have been ordered and received, and DOT has contracted with Bixby Electric to do the replacements.

“They should be scheduling the work soon,” Gallegos wrote.

Gillespie said former village councilor Ronita Wood deserved “big kudos” for beginning and maintaining contact with Gallegos to keep the project on his radar.

“When (former mayor) Wayne (Ake) resigned (in February 2024), Ronita spent four or five months performing mayoral duties as mayor pro tem. That included making phone calls to DOT asking about grants, cost sharing, anything, to get the lights on the boulevard repaired,” Gillespie said. “Andrew said he would see what he could do and he did find there was grant funding still available. He said we should have new lighting by the end of 2026.”

With the lights secured by DOT and the contract in place with Bixby, Gillespie is confident that time frame will hold.

“Clerk/administrator Erica Martinez has been touching base monthly, making sure things are on track and they still are,” he said. “There are some broken wires we know of and there needs to be a neutral line pulled in. Bob Norton with Bixby knows where all those little gremlins are; they’ve done work for the village over the last 10 years.”

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Lights on Bosque Farms Boulevard will soon work