Stormwater drainage work begins at Gallup Dog Park, park stays open
Work on the southeast side of Gallup Dog Park started June 22, but the park stayed open as crews tackled drainage, erosion and stormwater problems through July 31.
Heavy equipment moved onto the southeast side of Gallup Dog Park as the New Mexico Abandoned Mine Lands Program began a stormwater drainage renovation, but the fenced park itself stayed open. Dog owners and nearby residents were told to expect daytime construction noise and crews in the area, while no heavy machinery was planned inside the dog park interior.
The work was scheduled Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with completion expected by July 31. The immediate change for park users is not a full closure but a construction zone next to one of Gallup’s most used public recreation spaces, where summer runoff can quickly turn low spots into mud, washouts and erosion problems.
New Mexico AML identified the Gallup Dog Park, also known as the Laguna Circle site, as a 2.8-acre area between South 2nd Street and Laguna Circle. The program said it had already stabilized the landform and backfilled one of two adits there between 1984 and 1985, and the current project is meant to safeguard the remaining adit while making minor drainage improvements.
Planned work includes using an excavator to investigate the northern adit, backfilling it if appropriate, re-grading the site for drainage and building erosion-control features tied into the existing stormwater channel. That puts the project squarely in the realm of public safety and environmental cleanup, not a cosmetic park upgrade, because the drainage system is being adjusted to keep water moving away from vulnerable ground.
The broader context in Gallup is longstanding. New Mexico AML says the Gallup area has a coal-mining history dating to the late 19th century and that abandoned mine hazards there can include underground coal fires and unprotected vent and adit openings. The program also says New Mexico has more than 15,000 abandoned legacy mine features statewide, and the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 created the framework for the AML program.
Gallup has been part of that work for years. A 2022 Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department release said federal AML money would continue helping New Mexico mitigate subsidence and coal-fire problems in Gallup, underscoring why even a drainage project at a dog park fits into a larger public-safety effort in northwestern New Mexico.
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