SR 118 Closed Near Church Rock Feb. 23; Traffic Detoured onto I-40

Motorists who normally use State Road 118 between Iyanbito/Fort Wingate and Gallup are being rerouted onto Interstate 40 as the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s District Six office begins a full closure of N.M. 118 near Church Rock starting Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. The closure affects both eastbound and westbound traffic and will remain in place while crews work on the aging bridge east of N.M. 566.

The District Six announcement, as carried in local outlets, describes a full closure of N.M. 118 between N.M. 566 and Navajo Boulevard; Gallup Sun Weekly noted that description sits about a mile and a half east of the bridge site near Church Rock. Crews will remove the existing structure and build two new bridges over the South Fork of the Puerco River near Church Rock, replacing the aging span east of N.M. 566 as part of broader roadway improvements along the corridor.

The contractor on the project is Siete Inc., and work is scheduled Monday through Friday during daylight hours. Transportation officials say both eastbound and westbound traffic will be rerouted to I-40 during the project; a Facebook notice repeated that “Both eastbound and westbound traffic on NM 118 will be detoured onto 1-40,” and outlets reporting the NMDOT announcement say the closure and detour are anticipated to remain in place through the summer.

The closure will directly affect residents and businesses that use the Church Rock corridor and drivers traveling between Gallup and communities east of N.M. 566. The original NMDOT notice identified the closure as beginning Feb. 23, 2026, but did not include a firm completion date or an estimated number of months beyond the phrasing “several months” and “through the summer.” No project cost, milepost-level closure endpoints, or details about local access for residents, emergency vehicles, or school buses were provided in the announcement.

NMDOT and Siete Inc. framed the bridge work as part of corridor improvements; local officials and commuters should expect altered routing and daytime construction activity on weekdays for the duration of the project. Drivers planning travel between Fort Wingate, Iyanbito and Gallup should use I-40 for east-west travel while crews remove the old structure and build the two new bridges over the South Fork of the Puerco River near Church Rock.