NMDOT BOTCHES HIGH ROAD TO TAOS

Tuesday, 06 September 2011 16:32

NEW SHOULDERS UNSAFE FOR BIKES; PAVING CONTRACTOR IGNORES PLANS, SAVES SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!

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Picture of road with bad sholders        The NM Bicyclist (Summer 2011) was already celebrating success on NM76 in an article on NM41 in the Galisteo Basin (left) when Board Member Chris Tough came upon the unexpected “partial paving” of friction course south of Truchas (above).

June 30, 2011 – Oops, they did it again.  During the week of June 13th, 2011, contractors for New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) District 5 applied a partial overlay of “friction course” to top off a three-mile reconstruction project south of Truchas on the High Road to Taos Scenic Byway (NM76).  Project plans clearly indicated that the top paving course was to extend to the outside edge of each shoulder in order to create a smooth and safe surface for all highway users.  Apparently, a last-second decision was made in the field to skip applying the last four feet of material on each side.

The partial application left a seam along the travel lane edge line that represents an obvious hazard and inconvenience to bicyclists, who thus will not reap the benefits of the addition of paved shoulders within this multi-million-dollar project on one of the state’s most popular long-distance bicycle touring routes.  NMDOT was clearly aware of the common presence of bicyclists, having erected bicycle warning signs as part of the project.  In order to avoid the seam, many bicyclists can now be expected to simply ride in the motor vehicle travel lane, much to the predictable chagrin of motorists who will be traveling upwards of 50 mph on this beautiful winding mountain road.  Now, to add insult to injury, NMDOT has added a center-line rumble strip throughout the project – further forcing motorists and cyclists to “share the road” where they really should not have to be in the same narrow lane at all.  Maybe those warning signs were a really good idea after all!

The news of the partial overlay on NM76 was a huge blow to the board of the Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico (BCNM), which had hand-picked this project in a letter to Gov. Richardson (www.bikenm.org/images/BCNM_letter_govrich_2009.pdf) nearly two years earlier as a prospective model case within a broader effort to eliminate the practice of partial paving across the board.  It was only through repeated, and otherwise mostly fruitless, negotiations between BCNM and the NMDOT Secretary’s Office that the NM76 plans indicated full-width paving to begin with.  Today, two weeks after the partial overlay near Truchas, NMDOT District 5 will not commit to fixing the costly error; in fact the new rumble strip would seem to seal the deal.

NMDOT – still commonly referred to as New Mexico’s “highway department” – appears unaware that the “partial paving” problem has been the focus of two years of advocacy work by BCNM not only with local and state government but with federal funders and our congressional delegation in Washington DC, several members of which have offered to weigh in on the issue.  In fact, BCNM President Diane Albert had just sent a letter [see letter here] to the head of Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) New Mexico Division Office, with all relevant parties copied, asking that federal funds no longer be used to reimburse the bicycle-unfriendly practice of partial paving, a development that would effectively eliminate the problem in new construction.  The BCNM Board feels that they are close to a tipping point; indeed, reneging on NM76 could be far more costly for NMDOT than they know.

For now, the unusable shoulders near Truchas are similar to those resulting from any other construction or maintenance project by the highway department in the past decade.  A stretch of US70 near Las Cruces, where bicyclist Dr. Ronald Fronzcek was killed by a truck last March, is a typical example of what happens to the so-called “bicycle facility” after repeated overlays (see photos).  This “mono-modal” approach – satisfying motorists’ needs without accommodating bicyclists – is directly contrary to federal and state law, as clearly explained in BCNM’s 2009 letter to Gov. Richardson.  Yet it flies freely through state and federal reviews that are specifically intended to enforce multi-modal provisions, including smooth, usable highway shoulders for bikes.

NMDOT has never denied the shortcomings of the practice for bicyclists.  At one point in 2010, the NMDOT Secretary himself promised to end partial paving with respect to maintenance overlays (see http://www.bikenm.org/action/engineering/116-clear-shoulders-at-last-nmdot-secretary-vows-to-end-practice-of-partial-maintenance-overlays), only to withdraw the offer months later after staff explained to him – and to BCNM board members – that the Agency simply “couldn’t afford” to provide good shoulders for bikes.

After botching the shoulder of the Turquoise Trail Scenic Byway (NM14) south of Madrid NM, part of the famous Santa Fe Century ride, about five years ago, NMDOT placed some of the blame on the local community, which had expressed interest in “earth-tone shoulders.”  The colored shoulders never materialized, but the ubiquitous “lip” was left to put bicyclists in harm’s way anyway.  It certainly makes one wonder about the agency’s real priorities.

Today, there is no plausible explanation beyond the obvious: NMDOT is, by its own admission, stretching its budget by not paving to the edge of the roadway.  Cost savings are explicitly ruled out by federal law and policy as a premise for failing to properly accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians within highway projects, yet still here we are.  In short, the highway department is successfully – and illegally – nickel and diming the traveling public at the specific expense of bicyclist safety throughout the state.

How can this have happened?  Is NMDOT’s “multi-modal” rhetoric really so empty?  Is poor old New Mexico a “special case” in the eyes of our federal funders?  During the NM14 debacle, FHWA supported the shoddy construction but – in their words – would not “participate” in the proposed solution, to re-apply friction course on the shoulders.  That proposed solution was characterized by FHWA staff as a “Cadillac” treatment, beyond what is really needed in New Mexico.  Thus, new construction on one of the most iconic highways in the state (see, for example, the film “Wild Hogs”), was allowed to fail to accommodate bicycles.

Now it has happened again, this time on the High Road to Taos, and contrary to specific approved plans.  The practice of partial paving is unheard of in other states.  Do bicyclists and motorists in New Mexico really somehow deserve no better than an Edsel?

           Some photos of the shoulder on US70 northeast of Las Cruces, NM, where Dr. Ronald Fronczek was struck and killed by a truck in March 2011. Pavement seams left by multiple overlays over the years make the shoulder all but unusable by bicyclists. A local New Mexico State Police spokesperson remarked that the tragedy should teach bicyclists to stay off of the “open road.” Did NMDOT give Dr. Fronczek a choice? For more photos see Benjamin Widner, Jr.’s Facebook page here.

 More Resources: Action Steps and Tool Kits For Advocates