HOBBS, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Republican gubernatorial hopeful Steve Pearce is calling for a system of toll roads in southeastern New Mexico to serve booming oilfield and other commercial traffic around one of the most-productive oil and gas areas in the world.

Speaking to a group of business leaders in Carlsbad, New Mexico, last week, Pearce, of Hobbs, unveiled a plan he said would be financed by private companies and without taxpayer dollars, the Hobbs News-Sun reports . Its aim would help traffic coming from the Delaware Basin, an oval-shaped shale rock formation that protrudes from southwe...