Relief Route is Dead!!!!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
State: Relief route is dead
By Andy Dennison, The Taos News
Feb. 28 - 11:04 a.m.
The relief route around Taos was officially pronounced dead Tuesday (Feb. 27).
After decades of surveys, plans, hearings and discussion, state highway officials told the county commissioners that the project would be “put on hold” indefinitely.
“It was clear that there aren’t enough through trips along (US) 64 and the local support wasn’t there,” said Joe García, manager of regional design for the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT)
Plus, García and Phil Gallegos, NMDOT District 5 manager, said money for major new road construction in the state and the federal coffers is drying up. Even if any relief route was approved, it would take 20-30 years to gather the funds.
“These conditions mean we will take a ‘no build’ option for the relief route,” García said. “It means we will take a different look at this area.”
A shift in perspective may mean proposed solutions to congested traffic in the downtown Taos area, or what Gallegos called “micro-traffic.” Several proposals have come up for rerouting traffic off of Paseo del Pueblo as traffic gets clogged up around the plaza area.
The decision pleased Taoseños for Real Traffic Relief, an activist group that has opposed any bypass road around the town, and prompted a plea for other forms of congestion relief.
“We need to get creative,” Barbara Sheppard, president of the group, told the commissioners. “We’ve got to coordinate with any master plans.”
Other road projects
Gallegos confirmed that a major $4.3 million reconstruction of NM 68 north and south of the entrance to Taos Pueblo on Elk Creek Road was still on the books. He said design for adding a turn lane from Placitos to Guadulajara Grill and adding sidewalks should begin in October, once fiscal year 2008 funding is available.
“The El Prado project is lucky to still be on the books,” he said.
Several commissioners asked about possible improvements on NM 240 through Ranchos de Taos, but the highway official said little money will be available in the coming years.
“We’re working on STIP (Statewide Transportation Improvement Project) four years out,” Gallegos said. “And there isn’t much money there.”
Commissioner Charlie Gonzales asked if the state could help with “lateral roads” that feed into state routes, but he was told that the state couldn’t be involved in those types of projects.