Rio Rancho city manager talks roads and infrastructure with industry professionals

RIO RANCHO — Rio Rancho City Manager Matt Geisel gave industry professionals a “roadmap” — pun intended, he said — of the city’s roads and infrastructure projects Thursday during a monthly meeting of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, which also goes by NAIOP.

Geisel, who spoke at Presbyterian Rust Medical Center, provided a “by the numbers” account quantifying the miles of roads, their funding sources and how many projects have been completed. He also discussed present and upcoming roads and infrastructure projects.

“I get a call from Steve, and it’s basically, ‘Hey bro, can someone come give a presentation on roads?’” Geisel said to laughs, referring to Steven Garcia, a member of the association’s board of directors.

Geisel’s presentation came exactly two weeks after the Rio Rancho Governing Body approved a $158.8 million budget for Fiscal Year 2026 and a $690.9 million package of capital projects, including ones for roads and infrastructure, from 2026-30.

Geisel said during his presentation that Rio Rancho has 484 miles of paved roads, 104 miles of maintained and unpaved roads, and 373 miles of unmaintained roads.

“We have a lot of roads for the size of the city and the population that we have,” he said, noting Rio Rancho’s land mass is only 25% developed.

In 2009, around the time Geisel joined the city, voters passed the first general obligation bond dedicated to road projects, he said. After a few starts and stops with passing future GO bonds, voters have approved them every other year since 2016, Geisel said. He and other city officials are hopeful the Rio Rancho Governing Body will put a bond question on the ballot for voters to consider in 2026.

“GO bonds are a predictable, steady source of revenue,” Geisel said.

Since 2016, when the city “got aggressive” on roads, Geisel said, there have been 47 major road projects, totaling $110 million, and 147 miles of residential road repair under the city road program. Fifty-one percent of residential roads have had some work done to them, but the majority figure does not seem to impress all residents, Geisel said.

“(The city) get these calls and comments, ‘Well, you did my neighbor’s road — what about mine?’” he said with a laugh. In all seriousness, he estimated that in most residential neighborhoods, all but the last mile of the road has received work.

According to the city’s website, there are seven roads projects in construction and Geisel used his presentation to highlight a few of them, including reconstruction of Broadmoor Boulevard, scheduled for completion in February.

Geisel said the city hopes that if a 2026 GO bond is placed on the ballot and approved by voters, $21.5 million in funds will go to improvement projects on Baltic Avenue, Springer Drive, Ridgecrest Drive and Honduras Road.

District 1 Councilor Deborah Dapson noted in an interview after hearing Geisel’s presentation that Thursday was not the first time she had heard the city manager give a presentation on roads. But she attended the meeting, listening as a small business owner specializing in graphic design and digital marketing.

“I’m interested in having new business because new business could potentially become new business for me,” Dapson said. “Infrastructure is critical for businesses.”