The Department of Transportation and House Speaker Ben Luján do not appear to have made much progress in negotiating land the state says it needs for the U.S. 84/285 highway project between Pojoaque and Española.

More than 30 other landowners along the corridor, however, have accepted department offers for land the department says it needs for the project.

The state in mid-March made the Nambé Democrat an offer for his land, but Luján has said he doesn't want to sell.

A letter to Luján since then says preliminary negotiations for Luján's land "have been unsuccessful" and he can initiate a formal proceeding for negotiating a settlement in the case. It also says the department has completed its appraisal of Luján's land and he can request an additional appraisal to determine "just compensation" for the land. A third appraiser could be appointed by the appraisers for both Luján and the state.

If the appraisers agree on a common amount, a new offer may be made, the letter states.

If not, the state "may establish an amount which it believes to be just compensation and may submit to the condemnee an offer; the offer cannot be less than the department's appraisal," a right-of-way agent for the department wrote to Luján.

The state won't release the amounts of the offers made to landowners until all the property transactions for the project are complete.

Luján said his attorney is working on the matter.

"I think that I suggested that they wouldn't take any of my property," he said Wednesday. "I didn't feel they needed to take any of my property."

DOT spokesman S.U. Mahesh said this week the state needs six segments of land from three parcels owned by Luján and his family. Luján's parcels total 18,060 square feet.

Luján isn't the only Northern New Mexico landowner involved in the project. There are 44 property owners affected by the project, according to the department.

Seven condemnation lawsuits have been filed, while the department has sent 17 landowners letters notifying them that the state intends to file a condemnation suit against them. One case was settled and nine cases are pending, according to Mahesh.

As for the roadwork, the $68 million project from Española to Pojoaque will reconstruct existing lanes and add frontage roads, as well as build a new interchange at Pojoaque Pueblo.

Of the total cost, $37 million will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That money goes to two sections of the five-section project.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.santafenewmexican.com.