E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Interchange Near Speaker's Land
By Colleen Heild
Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Investigative Reporter
State highway officials are planning a new $7.8 million interchange across U.S. 84/285 south of Española, just up the hill from property owned by House Speaker Ben Lujan and his wife.
There's no intersection, stoplight or even a side street at the proposed interchange site, which is on Pojoaque Pueblo's northern boundary. The scene is just rolling hills, gullies, and acres and acres of undeveloped land.
This wasn't always where the interchange was going to be.
The Department of Transportation had planned to build an interchange farther north, at the intersection of U.S. 84/285 and La Puebla Road — a site selected because of its congestion and concerns about safety.
But the DOT in late 2007 abruptly relocated the proposed interchange to about four-tenths of a mile from Lujan's property — a move the powerful Santa Fe Democrat insists he had nothing to do with and says won't benefit him.
"That's the highway department's prerogative to locate it there," Lujan said last week.
The redesign, which also eliminated a planned intersection on the corridor, prompted one DOT traffic safety official to voice concerns in a November 2007 e-mail obtained by the Journal.
The revamped corridor "wouldn't serve the needs of the commuting public nor will it be a safe roadway of which the NMDOT can be proud," the e-mail said in part.
DOT spokesman S.U. Mahesh said last week that opinion was "inaccurate" and "misguided." DOT management insists the new design won't compromise safety.
Mahesh noted that the Federal Highway Administration agreed to the plan that moved the interchange to pueblo land. FHWA still needs to give final approval after right of way is purchased.
GRIP project
The proposed interchange is part of a $68 million reconstruction project of the main road between Pojoaque and Española and is funded through Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership, or GRIP.
The interchange, which will include an overpass, will route local traffic from the main highway onto two new frontage roads. The eastern frontage road would be adjacent to Lujan's property. Construction could start by the end of 2009.
But there's a problem.
DOT officials need 14 acres of land from Pojoaque Pueblo for easements. But pueblo officials balked at the $300,000 price tag set by a state appraisal, reportedly asking for ten times that amount, or $3 million.
Unlike when negotiating with private property owners, the DOT lacks its usual leverage. Because the pueblo is a sovereign nation, the DOT can't go to court to condemn the property.
Former DOT Secretary Rhonda Faught, who retired in December, said she recalled that Pojoaque Pueblo asked for the interchange.
In a letter, Pojoaque Gov. George Rivera declined the Journal's request for an interview, citing pending negotiations with DOT.
The site is about 2.5 miles from the pueblo's nearest casino and a mile from the closest building on pueblo land.
Safety issue
Dick Hogle and his wife have lived in the La Puebla area south of Española for 30 years. They've witnessed the traffic problems up close.
The couple was en route to a DOT meeting held to gather public comment on the corridor project when they saw that a car running a red light at La Puebla had hit a horse trailer. The La Puebla Volunteer Fire Department, also on the way to the DOT meeting, responded to the call.
Hogle said that, when they got to the DOT meeting, "We said, 'Here's a good example of why the red lights aren't working.' They (DOT officials) said, 'That's a good point you brought up.' "
For more than seven years, the state had studied how to make the eight-mile stretch of roadway south of Española safer while improving traffic flow and convenience, records show.
At a March 2007 public hearing, DOT officials discussed how they hoped to deal with the conflict that occurs between higher speed through-traffic and slower local traffic.
"There is one location where we propose or strongly recommend a grade separated bridge (interchange) and that's at County Road 88 (La Puebla)," said DOT north region design manager Joe Garcia, according to a transcript of the hearing.
Building an interchange there would remove large volumes of traffic turning from the main road, according to DOT records.
"We have one area only, County Road 88, (where) we really see the volumes in the accident history for a grade separation (interchange)," Garcia told the audience. "The accident history is there, and the volumes are there."
Traffic projections for the corridor in 2007 called for a increase of 19,000 more vehicles per day in 20 years, nearly doubling current volume.
After the hearing, records show, the road design approved by the DOT and submitted for federal approval called for a La Puebla interchange.
The DOT originally planned to build only an intersection at the Pojoaque Pueblo boundary. The emphasis, records show, was minimizing the amount of right of way needed.
Change in plans
The design had changed dramatically by December.
The La Puebla intersection lost its proposed interchange but would get minor improvements. An interchange would be built on Pojoaque Pueblo land, halfway up a hill that has a steep drop-off on one side.
A planned intersection between those two access points was scrapped, thereby forcing local eastbound traffic to use either the La Puebla intersection or the pueblo interchange.
It's unclear why the DOT abandoned the La Puebla interchange for one on Pojoaque Pueblo land.
Faught recalled that geographic impediments at La Puebla drove up the cost, but DOT records show engineering alternatives were suggested to lower the expense, such as moving part of the roadway to avoid a major arroyo. One DOT document cited public opposition.
An internal memo written by project design engineer Armando Armendariz on Dec. 12, 2007, announced the changes "as approved by NMDOT management." Armendariz's memo gave no explanation for why the design changed.
A Journal review of hundreds of documents provided by the DOT on the road project showed no engineering or safety justification for the pueblo interchange, or that those issues were considered.
The DOT issued a revised environmental document in April 2008 stating the modifications were based on "additional input from the public and the Pueblos."
Asked why the interchange was moved, Mahesh on Friday referred the Journal to that document.
A Nov. 29, 2007, e-mail from DOT programs division chief Muffet Cuddy to several DOT managers relayed the concerns of a department traffic safety team that discussed the changes.
"The original purpose and need of this corridor ... has been lost and the resulting project does not serve the needs of the commuting public nor will it be a safe roadway of which the NMDOT can be proud," the e-mail stated.
Then-Chief Engineer Max Valerio assured Cuddy in a response e-mail that he had "utmost confidence" that DOT engineer teams were providing "the most cost effective products while considering safety."
Spokesman Mahesh said Cuddy merely forwarded the concerns of someone on the team who wasn't involved in the project. Mahesh called those opinions "misguided."
Despite earlier DOT comments that the accident history justified an interchange at La Puebla, Mahesh said a check of DOT records showed only three accidents were reported in the La Puebla area from 2003-07, none of which were at the actual intersection.
Hogle, like several area residents interviewed by the Journal, said he attended all the DOT meetings on the project but never heard much about putting an interchange on Pojoaque Pueblo land.
When the DOT announced the proposed change at a January 2008 public hearing, Hogle said the response from the audience was, "It's New Mexico politics as usual. It's a done deal."
Go between?
Lujan said he considers his property to be "quite a ways" from the proposed interchange. DOT documents, including maps, show the interchange would be about four-tenths of a mile away.
The Lujans don't live on the parcel, but there is a house and commercial billboard there. The land is zoned for home/business uses.
Locating an interchange near property used by businesses tends to increase the value of the land because of the increased traffic generated by an interchange, said Santa Fe County Assessor Domingo Martinez. An interchange could lower land values if a property is zoned residential, he said.
Lujan told the Journal he and Faught discussed the project, but said he never talked to pueblo officials about the interchange.
Lujan has so far refused to sell the DOT about 0.4 of an acre needed for project right of way, prompting the DOT to recently file a condemnation lawsuit. After the property is acquired, Lujan will be left with more than 2 acres at the site, DOT records show.
Asked whether he thought he would benefit from the interchange, Lujan responded: "That's ridiculous. How could it increase the value of my property when they're taking part of it?"
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
