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Case Study - New Mexico

Statewide Programmatic Agreement for New Mexico

Description of the Program:

On December 30, 2010, the New Mexico Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), and the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) executed an amended Programmatic Agreement (PA) for the Federal-Aid Highway Program in New Mexico.  The Amended PA fully replaces an earlier PA executed for New Mexico's Federal-Aid Highway Program in 2005.

The amendment was needed to clarify the procedural steps outlined in the original PA. There are no substantive changes to the review process contained in the original PA. The Amendment mainly clarifies FHWA’s reporting procedures to make them more understandable and accessible to agency officials responsible for Section 106 compliance for FHWA Federal-Aid Highway Program projects.  In addition to FHWA, ACHP, NMDOT, and SHPO, consulting parties included the Pueblo of Sandia, Pueblo of Santa Clara, Ohkay Owingeh, and the Pueblo of Taos. All four are Federally-recognized Indian tribes.

The Amended PA streamlines Section 106 review for Federal-Aid Highway Projects by delegating to NMDOT responsibility for initiating consultation with the SHPO and consulting parties and to assist FHWA with consultation with Indian tribes. The PA exempts certain types of undertakings from review by FHWA, SHPO and other parties, where there is little to no potential to affect historic properties. It also allows FHWA, in consultation with the other parties, to develop standard treatment protocols to further streamline the review of routine undertakings.

The amended PA covers all Federal-Aid highway projects in New Mexico, except for undertakings affecting state owned historic bridges. The management of NMDOT-owned historic bridges, including Section 106 review, is covered under a separate PA that was executed among FHWA, NMDOT, SHPO and the ACHP in 2006.

View a copy of the signed Amended PA here.
View a copy of the PA for NMDOT-owned historic bridges here.

For more information please contact ngabriel@achp.gov.

Posted February 4, 2011

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