Saturday, June 7, 2008

Updated mobility plan goes to municipalities, county for approval

Julia M. Dendinger News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

Some things never go away. They just morph and change with the times. One such thing is the Valencia County Mobility Plan, originally developed in 2006. With recent changes to the county, the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) decided to take another look at the plan last summer.

In April, MRCOG hosted a series of public meetings to present the draft of the updated mobility plan and to let the public sit down with staff and give input on the plan. That draft plan is now ready to make its rounds amongst the governing entities of the county for their formal acceptance.

Loretta Tollefson, director of special projects for MRCOG, presented the draft plan to the Belen City Council Monday evening. The resolution accepting the mobility plan passed unanimously.

Belen was the first stop for the plan. Tollefson will present the draft mobility plan for acceptance to Peralta, Los Lunas, Bosque Farms and the county.

The comment period on the draft plan closed on May 5. Since receiving the final comments, further modifications have been made to the mobility plan update.

After getting negative feedback from Peralta residents and no major support from the Meadow Lake community, a proposed extension to Fence Line Road will be taken out of the plan.

In Highland Meadows, the generic "road paving" will be replaced with a specific list of roads needing paving in the community. Also, because of safety concerns related to the ingress-egress for residents of Highland Meadows south of N.M. 6, a new road across the BNSF railroad tracks from the southern part of the community to N.M. 6 will be added to the plan.

In order to enhance the safety on Meadow Lake Road, discussion of the project will be expanded to include an uphill passing land and a southbound turning lane at the Manzano Expressway intersection.

To provide additional access to N.M. 6 west of I-25 and enhance the potential for evacuation in the event of a natural disaster, a proposed "loop road" has been added to the plan that would connect the north Belen interchange to N.M. 6 west of Los Lunas Hill. That project is slated for the 2019-to-2030 timeframe of the mobility plan.

During an emergency services workshop, some safety concerns were voiced about the intersection of South El Cerro Loop and N.M. 47. The plan will recommend the addition of a traffic light to that intersection.

The plan also updated Valencia County roadway data related to the number of miles in gravel, dirt, asphalt and chip seal and deleted the "private" designation on the map for Mid-Valley Air Park. Although privately owned, it is a public access airport.

The 110-page draft mobility plan is available to the public at www.mrcog-nm.gov. Along with the draft is the executive summary of the plan. For more information, e-mail Tollefson at ltollefson@mrcog-nm.gov or call 724-3611.

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