Humans have always found meaning in the poetic categorization of years. According to Gov. Bill Richardson, 2007 was the Year of Water. According to the Chinese calendar, 2008 is the Year of the Rat. But even the ancient wisdom of Chinese astrologers failed to predict that, at least in Santa Fe, 2008 would be the Year of Roadwork.***image1***
We're in a relatively congenial rest period at the moment as temperatures climb, flowers bloom and hemlines rise. The long winter of devastation appears to be over and, with it, the violent calls for beheadings at city hall in retribution for transforming Guadalupe Street into a post-apocalyptic wasteland, more suitable for Mad Max than commuter and consumer travel.
But as soon as the full extent of the impending road disturbance sinks in, right around the time temperatures soar beyond pleasant and brains begin to ooze as surely as oily asphalt, that simmering civic rage will be front and center once again.
Last week, progress on the Rail Runner commuter train sparked closures or detours at I-25, Zia Road, Galisteo Street, Richard's Avenue and Highway 14. Beginning this week, I-25 frontage between La Cienega and Waldo Canyon will be closed, as will the La Cienega overpass "for the next several months." That won't trouble too many souls but, also starting this week or next, the intersection at St. Francis Drive and Cerrillos Road will be subject to single lane closures between 7 am and 5 pm. Between May 5-8, Paseo de Perlata, between Guadalupe Street and Old Taos Highway have similar closures. That's just the beginning. Over the next several months, there's a hit list that includes Siringo, Rodeo, San Mateo, Second Street, St. Michael's Drive, Cordova, Alta Vista and Alarid. People planning to beat the traffic by pedaling to work may find popular routes, such as the Rail Trail, closed as well. Rail Runner-related traffic snarls are well-detailed at
, complete with maps, detour routes, etc. There's even an e-mail alert list for up-to-date changes.
The city has an equally slick Web site dedicated to information about the Cerrillos Road project, which resumed work on Monday, April 28. But information doesn't prevent frustration when, in tandem with all the other closures, the Cerrillos work is expected to last through Oct. 31, 10 hours a day, seven days a week.
For many Santa Feans, however, it's not the delays that are vexing, it's the apparently permanent changes. Most unnerving is the new median that prevents turning left onto Guadalupe Street from Agua Fria Street in order to head toward downtown from the Santuario de Guadalupe.
"We know that any time there's a new project there will be changes, sometimes small, sometimes considerable and people will have to rethink their habits," Chris Ortega, Engineering Division director for the City of Santa Fe, says. "People are going to have to drop down to Alameda, which is an arterial, whereas Agua Fria is not."
Never mind that, as the historic El Camino Real de La Tierra Adentro, Agua Fria is the city's oldest "arterial," 400 years of habits are about to change because of safety issues and a study the Guadalupe-area residents of Agua Fria brought on themselves.
"When a neighborhood asks for speed humps," Ortega says, "that triggers a complete study, which may result in further updates, like controlling the safety at that intersection by limiting the turns to right hand." Other changes to Guadalupe Street are concurrent with construction on the Railyard and have been done in accordance with the Railyard master plan.
The engineering, at least, reflects the master plan's mandate to slow traffic and increase pedestrian safety and ease of use. The design, however, is unlikely to be lauded for its cohabitation with the surrounding historic district, as Davendra Contractor's Railyard gallery buildings have been (Contractor was awarded the new Heritage Preservation Award for Urban Design within an Historic Context by the State Cultural Properties Review Committee). The loops, droops, walls, stalls, swales and wedges of concrete that define pedestrian crossing "bulbs" and lane-dividing medians appear, aesthetically, to have been plucked at random from a discount catalog of city parts or purchased as spares from some lost suburban hell hole in California's San Fernando Valley.
Ortega says the city's Public Works Division often goes to the Historic Preservation Division for guidance, but doesn't recall that happening in regard to the Guadalupe Street improvements. At the end of the day though, he says, safety rather than beauty is the goal for the roadwork and the greater priority for the city.
Speaking of safety, Ortega confirms that the new Cerrillos Road construction will maintain the same terrifying bicycle lanes wedged between the through traffic and the turning lane-the ones that no sane bicyclist ever uses. When pressed, he also admits that he doesn't use the lanes himself and that the overall design follows state and federal guidelines to conform to multi-modal use by cars, bicycles, wheelchairs, pedestrians, etc.
"If we're using their money, we have to follow their guidelines," Ortega says. "Again, people make choices and bicyclists know what they're up against. I know a lot of drivers that don't want to be on Cerrillos Road either, so they're free to decide to just take Agua Fria instead."
True, but not if they're planning to turn left on Guadalupe.
