NMSS - Infrastructure: Main

Infrastructure: Water

sandy — Tue, 09 May 2006 14:19:36 -0600

Water

Water and sewer services are handled separately by each community in the Metro region:

In Bernalillo County, the City of Albuquerque, (505) 873-6953, provides sewer services, and the Albuquerque Bernalillo Water Authority, (505) 768-2500, provides water services. Water is supplied from an underground aquifer and surface rights to the Rio Grande. The aquifer will be replenished via the San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project, which will supply up to 70% of the metropolitan area's future water.
City of Rio Rancho Water, 505-891-5002, provides water from an underground aquifer.
Valencia County (Belen/Los Lunas) has several different water/sewer providers:

City of Belen, 505-864-8221, provides water and sewer service for Belen
Village of Los Lunas, 505-839-3840, provides water and sewer service for Los Lunas

Sangre de Cristo Water Company, 505-982-3700, serves Santa Fe.
The City of Moriarity 505-832-4406, serves the largest community in the Estancia Basin, while outlying areas are usually on well water with septic systems.
The Water Resources Research Institute has detailed information about regional water including water conservation, area basins, and technical reports.

Infrastructure Gas & Electric

sandy — Tue, 09 May 2006 13:19:25 -0600

Gas & Electric

PNM, is an electric and natural gas utility that serves much of New Mexico and its growing economy. It serves 424,000 electric customers and 478,000 natural gas customers throughout the state. It also sells power on the wholesale market in the Southwest.

Highly Reliable Infrastructure

PNM has repeatedly been rated one of the most reliable electric utilities in the nation. This distinction is particularly important to potential high-tech customers, who require highly reliable power for key manufacturing processes. Important high-tech organizations located within PNM’s service territory include Intel, Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base and aviation pioneer Eclipse Aviation.

PNM has maintained a reliability record of over 99.9925% over the past several years.

Electric Rates: A Competitive Advantage

PNM has some of the lowest electric rates in the Southwest, offering an important competitive advantage to businesses that use a large amount of electricity. Since 1994, rates for PNM retail electric customers – which includes residential, commercial and industrial customers – have fallen 19 percent while average rates in the Southwest have risen 14 percent.

PNM has more than 2,300 megawatts of generating capacity.
It is the sole purchaser of wind energy from the New Mexico Wind Energy Center, a major wind farm located in Eastern New Mexico.

Current PNM Rates vs. SW Regional Average Rates through May 2007

(AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, TX, UT, WA and WY)

FERC Class	Current PNM Rates (cents per kWh)	PNM vs. the Region
Residential	8.04	29.1% Lower
Commercial	7.02	29.3% Lower
Industrial	4.73	32.6% Lower
All Sectors	7.03	23.4% Lower

Source: PNM & Energy Information Administration data

Current PNM Rates vs. US Average Rates through May 2007

FERC Class	Current PNM Rates (cents per kWh)	PNM vs. the U.S.
Residential	8.04	22.7% Lower
Commercial	7.02	25.0% Lower
Industrial	4.71	22.7% Lower
All Sectors	7.03	17.4% Lower

Source: PNM & Energy Information Administration data

Natural Gas: Proximity to Major Production Fields

PNM’s natural gas service territory is wedged between two major natural gas production centers: the San Juan Basin and the Permian Basin. This proximity means that supplies of natural gas are not far away, reducing the expense of moving the gas from the production field to the ultimate customer. Users of natural gas within PNM’s service territory may buy natural gas from PNM – or buy it from another supplier and have PNM transport the gas on its behalf.

Services

PNM's Economic Development Services

Infrastructure: Telecommunications

sandy — Mon, 08 May 2006 16:51:08 -0600

Telecommunications

With fiber optic cable stretching from corner-to-corner and border-to-border, the state of New Mexico, and especially the Metro region, offers:

very competitive telecommunications rates
system and path redundancy
secure, high-speed data transport
100% digitally-switched telecommunications networks
multiple DSL and ISP options.

The Strategic Telecommunications Alliance Resource Team (START) works closely with the economic development community to provide essential services to relocating and expanding businesses by tracking and documenting the high-tech communications network of Metro New Mexico.

Fiber Optic

Albuquerque obtains fiber optic from a number of providers across the country. High density business areas such as Downtown, the North I-25 Corridor, and Uptown are served by multiple telecommunications companies that own fiber optic cables, thus lowering connectivity costs. In early 2007, the state entered National LambdaRail, a nationwide fiber optic network that will provide state researchers and businesses with hig-speed computer links.

CLECs

Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC) offer wholesale digital services ranging from DS1 to OC12, as well as dial-up, DSL, and high-speed point-to-point and Internet access:

Other Telecommunications

Peering Points/Telecommunications Hotels:

505 Marquette
Big Byte
OSO Secure Colocation
Sandia Science and Technology Parks (offers managed point-to-point Internet services and WAN connections)

Long distance carriers with facilities in New Mexico include:

Local Service

Qwest Communications, the regional operating company for the state of New Mexico, connects customers in New Mexico through 77,000 miles of fiber optic cable. For more information, call 800-526-3557 (development center) or 505-245-5500 (local marketing office).

The Qwest Communications telephony network:

includes high capacity, digital voice, video and data services, such as frame relay, ISDN, ISDN Primary Rate Service, T-1, LAN switching service, ATM switching, Private Line DS1 and DS3, and business Internet access
has an integrated hierarchical, self-healing, SONET fiber-optic ring
utilizes state-of-the-art Lucent 5ESS telephone switches.

Digital Subscriber Lines and Internet Service Providers

Company	Area Served	Dial-up Users	Leased Line Users	Phone
Covad	Service to Albuquerque business and residential markets	N/A	N/A	800-636-3500
CyberMesa	New Mexico; DSL available in Santa Fe	Â	Â	888-988-2700
Farmington Internet Service, Inc	900 New Mexico accounts	N/A	N/A	505-325-0029
Hubwest Internet Computer Services	3,000 New Mexico accounts	N/A	N/A	505-323-2944, 800-527-0448
Lobo Internet Service LTD	2,000 New Mexico accounts	N/A	N/A	505-832-4444
New Mexico Internet Access	6,000 New Mexico accounts	7,000	50	505-343-7639 505-247-4137
Oso Grande Technologies	7,700 New Mexico accounts	7,630	310	505-345-6555
PVT NetWorks	5,500 New Mexico accounts	5,400	40	505-746-1241 505-764-9844
Qwest	DSL to Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Taos, Rio Rancho, Los Alamos, Corrales, Belen and Los Lunas	Â	Â	505-245-6597 800-660-6619
Southwest Cyberport	Albuquerque	Â	N/A	505-232-7992
Thunder Network Technologies	1,600 New Mexico accounts	Â	Â	505-889-4935
Virtual Los Alamos	500 New Mexico accounts	Â	Â	505-662-5826
ZiaNet Incorporated	30,000 New Mexico accounts	20,000	35	505-522-1234 505-248-0600

Wireless Internet Service Providers

Wireless Internet Access
Clearwire Technologies, Inc. provides high speed wireless DSL access in Albuquerque, with quick 3-5 day hookups through local ISPs:

USI Net
New Mexico Fiber
NMCG Net
Oso Grande
Spinn.net
Silicon Desert
NM Internet Access
iHighway.net
Wireless Web service is available to Albuquerque cell phone users through Sprint PCS, AirTouch, and Cellular One

Azulstar has installed a city-wide wireless network in Rio Rancho as a way to allow residents and businesses to access high speed wireless Internet from anywhere in the city. The company will also offer mobile and stationary telephone services. The Albuquerque Sunport offers free wireless access throughout the airport terminal.

Broadband Cable Internet Access

Multiple providers offer high-speed Internet access to both businesses and residences within the Metro area:

Comcast Cable in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Los Lunas; high-speed Internet service for businesses with large numbers of employees called Comcast Teleworker, in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
AOL Broadband in Belen and Los Lunas
Cable One in Rio Rancho.

Infrastructure: Air Travel

sandy — Mon, 08 May 2006 16:26:32 -0600

Air

The Albuquerque International Sunport, located in the southwestern part of town, is the state's largest commercial airport. The Double Eagle II Airport, located on Albuquerque's West Side, is undergoing major renovations and is adjacent to the newly approved Aerospace Technology Park.

General Aviation Facilities

Albuquerque International Sunport is the largest cargo and passenger facility serving the Metro New Mexico area. It offers free wireless internet access throughout the terminal. Sunport will offer direct flights to Puerto Vallarta beginning in December 2007.
Double Eagle II Airport, a large general aviation facility, is located near both Albuquerque and Rio Rancho. It will become home to Eclipse Aviation (now located near the Sunport) and several other aviation manufacturing enterprises.
Santa Fe Municipal Airport is located on the southwest side of Santa Fe and offers facilities for commercial planes carrying up to 60 passengers and for general aviation. The Santa Fe Airport will offer daily nonstop flight to Dallas-Fort Worth, Salt Lake City and LA beginning in December 2007. The airport is currently offering commuter flights to Denver.
Alexander Municipal Airport is the general aviation airport for Belen.
Mid-Valley Airport near Los Lunas offers general aviation services.
Moriarty Airport provides general aviation services for Torrance County.

Commercial Passenger Carriers

The Albuquerque International Sunport is served by 8 major commercial carriers:

American - nonstop service to Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth
Continental - nonstop service to Houston
Delta - nonstop service to Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Cincinnati
Frontier - nonstop service to Denver with regional connections
Northwest - nonstop service to Minneapolis-St. Paul
Southwest - the largest carrier at the Sunport with nonstop service to Dallas Love Field, Phoenix, El Paso, Lubbock, Midland, Baltimore-Washington, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Chicago, Orlando, San Diego, Oakland, Houston, Kansas City, Amarillo, Tucson and Tampa
United - nonstop service to Denver, Los Angeles, San Fransico, San Antonio and Chicago
US Airways - nonstop service to Phoenix and Las Vegas

The Sunport also receives regular service from commuter airlines:

Express Jet -nonstop service to 6 cities in California, Texas and Oklahoma
Great Lakes - service to ABQ from Silver City and Clovis, to Santa Fe from ABQ and to Denver from Santa Fe
Mesa Airlines - nonstop service to Colorado Springs and many cities in New Mexico
Skywest - regional jet service to Salt Lake City

Air Cargo carriers

BAX Global
DHL
Federal Express
Integrated Airline Service
Parcel Delivery of Albuquerque
UPS

Infrastructure: Rail

sandy — Mon, 08 May 2006 15:37:07 -0600

Rail

The 1880 decision of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad to locate their passenger depot in Albuquerque grew the heart of Metro New Mexico. Today the railroad is still a part of New Mexico life - freight is still present, and a commuter train is charging up from the south of the metro area towards to Santa Fe.

Freight

Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway's (BNSF) north-south mainline runs through Albuquerque, connecting with its east-west mainline in Belen.
Intermodal freight shipment using truck-to-rail links is available, with 'piggybacking' accessible throughout the region.
Santa Fe Southern, a short haul railroad, offers local area freight connections.
The city of Bernalillo, five minutes north of Rio Rancho, offers an additional rail access point.

Passenger

The New Mexico Rail Runner Express is the metro area commuter train that currently runs through the 50-mile corridor from Belen to the south, through Albuquerque, north to Bernalillo.
Construction is currently under way to extend service into Santa Fe by late 2008, opening business opportunities for the Middle Rio Grande Corridor.
The Rail Runner has become the fastest start-up of a commuter rail train in the country in the past 20 years.
Amtrak provides passenger rail service. Albuquerque is a stop on the Chicago/Los Angeles route.

Infrastructure: Roads

sandy — Mon, 08 May 2006 14:36:26 -0600

Roads

Interstate highways 25 and 40 intersect at the heart of Metro New Mexico. They provide:

Extraordinary interstate motor freight routes in all directions
Ease of access to each of the communities in Metro New Mexico. Allowable speeds on the Interstates are 65 to 75 miles per hour.

Major reconstruction of the interchange for the two interstates (locally called 'The Big I') was completed in 2002. The expansion will handle anticipated traffic levels through 2030.

Santa Fe is located about 60 miles north of Albuquerque on I-25.
Regularly scheduled vanpool service is available between the Albuquerque and Santa Fe for $7.50-$11 per day.
Sandoval Country (Rio Rancho) is located approximately 10 miles NNW of Albuquerque
Valencia County (Belen/Los Lunas) is located approximately 25 miles south of Albuquerque on I-25.
Torrance County (Estancia Valley) is located approximately 25 miles east of Albuquerque on 1-40.

LOCAL TRANSIT

ABQ Ride provides extensive local routes and free circulation service downtown. Rapid Ride is the bus rapid transit service operated by ABQ Ride. It began operations in late 2004 and serves as a pilot project for a potential light rail line.
A central transportation hub in downtown Albuquerque facilitates transfers among Greyhound, Amtrak, and city buses.
Albuquerque has 86 miles of dedicated off-street bicycling facilities and over 70 miles of bike lanes. The bicycle-commuting infrastructure is designed to serve the major employment area.