Planning Organization Recommends Major NM Department of Transportation Project for State Road 554

by Jake Arnold

​The Northern Pueblos Regional Transportation Organization (NPRTPO), at their monthly meeting last week (8/2/23), issued a strong letter of recommendation to the NM Department of Transportation (NMDOT) endorsing citizen proposals for a major State Road 554 improvement/reconstruction project.  The NPRTPO  told the NMDOT that this contemplated project should gain "STIP" ( Statewide Transportation Improvement Program) status.  

NPRTPO's members listened to extensive commentary from numerous El Rito and Abiquiu area residents and other concerned individuals (advocating for the safety of the many bicyclists touring on the highway) at the July 12, 2023, meeting.   

Formal consideration of new NMDOT projects by that labyrinthine and many-layered cabinet-level department begins with such recommendations on the part of the several RTPOs operating throughout the state, which are designated as NMDOT affiliates 

Issuance of such a letter of recommendation and inclusion in the STIP are necessary steps along the way to possibly achieving the goal of making such a project, as proposed by citizens at the NPRTPO meeting in July, a reality.
 
In that letter the NPRTPO also asked the NM DOT to conduct request that the NM DOT conduct at Road Safety Audit (RSA) of this highway corridor as part of its assessment of whether or not to grant the citizen proposals regarding a major State Road 554 project in the STIP. 
 
The NPRTPO chair, Vernon Lujan of Taos Pueblo, said at the 8/2/23 meeting, that he had spoken with several friends and associates in the Abiquiu area and those individuals agreed with the concerns raised by members of the public at the July NPRTPO meeting (the principal focus of those voiced concerns were opinions that State Road 554 is an extremely dangerous highway as it now exists).

The NTRPO recommendation letter in question, describing those citizen concerns is available for perusal at this link:  Click Here