Riders say practice causes additional dangers for cyclists on the roads

The Los Alamos County Transportation Board will consider a resolution in August to prohibit NMDOT from using cost-saving techniques that render paved highway shoulders hazardous and unusable by bicyclists. A decision to proceed would follow the lead of the Santa Fe City Council, which approved a similar resolution banning "partial paving" earlier this year.

The Coalition states in a press release that the NMDOT practice of not re-paving shoulders in routine maintenance overlays, nor applyihg a top layer of "friction course" to paved shoulders in new construction, result in inferior shoulder conditions including a pavement edge that poses a hazard for a variety of road users. In many cases, the partial paving technique makes it impossible for bicyclists to use the highway shoulder, forcing them to share the travel lane with higher-speed motor vehicle traffic.

New Mexico bicyclists around the state have complained about these conditions for years, but the problem has never been publicly acknowledged by NMDOT. The Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico (BCNM) has contacted the Governor's Office in order to discuss the issue and how to resolve it.  According to BCNM President Diane Albert, "It's because of this kind of practice that New Mexico's ranking by League of American Bicyclists has dropped to 46th place among the fifty states."

BCNM has singled out a reconstruction project on the "High Road to Taos" slated for 2010 as an opportunity for NMDOT to return to the practice of providing a uniform, smooth and safe surface for all road users, including bicyclists.

BCNM is encouraging bicyclists and others in New Mexico who are concerned about this problem to express their concerns to Gov. Richardson, NMDOT, and FHWA/NM Division Chief J. Don Martínez.

More information, including photographs of incomplete pavement overlays on various highways around the state, the City of Santa Fe resolution prohibiting the practice, and a copy of BCNM's letter to Gov. Richardson on this matter, is available on the BCNM web site at www.bikenm.org .