Jul. 18—TIJERAS — A nearly completed watershed project and bridge were put to the test last weekend when a flash flood swept through the streets of the village and Tijeras Creek rose to a peak of 9 feet in 15 minutes.
Thursday morning, Bernalillo County Commissioner Eric Olivas, whose district includes Uptown and the East Mountains, and experts gathered outside Los Vecinos Community Center, just feet from a pedestrian bridge damaged by floodwaters on Saturday.
“The National Weather Service is calling this a 200-500 year flood event,” Olivas said. “I think it’s important to note that this is an event that is increasingly likely in the face of a changing climate, and we are dealing with those climate impacts right here in the East Mountains, right here in our community, and we have to step up and confront those impacts and fight climate change at the same time.”
Saturday’s storm in the East Mountains caused “unprecedented flooding,” Olivas said. No people were injured from the flooding, but the bridge has been closed.
The village of Tijeras saw 3 inches of rain and hail in 30 minutes. The storm caused significant damage to Los Vecinos Community Center Bridge — a key connection for residents traveling between the community center and nearby A. Montoya Elementary and Roosevelt Middle schools.
Officials said Tijeras will provide a shuttle for students going to school or to summer programs until the bridge can be repaired.
“Our main concern here is that we know that this is a centralized hub for the residents of the East Mountains, and we need folks to understand that you cannot drop your kids off and just expect them to cross the creek,” said Andre Dickson, director of BernCo Parks, Recreation and Open Space.
Work to repair the bridge is not expected to begin until spring of 2026, said Brian Lopez, BernCo Public Works technical services director. Though it is not certain until damages have been assessed, Lopez said it is likely the entire bridge will have to be rebuilt.
“Our biggest obstacle in getting this bridge reconstructed is that our wait times for the construction material needed are quite long,” Lopez said. “Most manufacturers are estimating wait times of about a year. Simply put, we cannot start rebuilding this bridge until we can acquire those materials.”
While the damage was substantial, Kali Bronson, stormwater program compliance lead, said it could have been worse if not for the nearly completed Tijeras Creek Watershed Restoration Project.
“Our project was about 80-90% complete when the floodwaters from this weekend’s storm inundated the site,” Bronson said. “Although our project wasn’t complete, we did see that the restoration work that we have done still generally functioned exactly the way we were hoping they would.”
The project, which began in 2023, would reconnect Tijeras Creek with its historic floodplain, reestablish the natural stream course and reduce overall flood risk. The project cost $1,550,000 and was funded by the New Mexico River Stewards Grant with additional funding provided by Bernalillo County.