I-40, U.S. 491 fines going up
Speeders in new 'safety corridors' will be hit with a double-whammy

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Travelers be warned: the media blitz began Wednesday concerning the new I-40 and U.S. 491safety corridors, and it will be costly news for anyone caught speeding in them.

New Mexico Department of Transportation District 6 Public Relations Officer Rosie Sais announced the safety corridor concept several weeks ago, but said at the time a proposed double-fine zone would not take effect until signs were put up and a media blitz took place.

"From now until March 16, we'll give regular citations with a warning that from March 16-on, the fines will be double in the zone," said Capt. Jerry Cottrell, commander of the District 6 command of the New Mexico State Police.

Cottrell said that on March 19, existing state police officers will be used on a rotating basis for a new Interstate 40 Patrol. "For the present time, we'll have a sergeant and one officer from the Grants area, and two officers from the Gallup area, on the patrol," Cottrell said. "They will only patrol on Interstate 40 and will not leave the interstate unless there is a dire emergency somewhere else."

Sais said the department of transpiration intends to have two safety corridors, one already established from Mile Marker 53 at Throeau to Mile Marker 63 at the Prewitt Exit.

The other will be on U.S. 491, just north of Gallup, but the signs have not yet been put up on that stretch of highway, Sais said.

"We've got signs already put up on both ends of the 10-mile corridor saying the motorists are entering the corridor, then we have signs posted on speed limit signs reminding people they are in the safety corridor, and finally, we've got signs up announcing that the corridor is a double fine zone," Sais said. "The signs were put up last week."

The state police and the McKinley County Sheriff's Department will be working the safety corridor. The transportation department allocated grant money for overtime pay to officers working the anti-speeding campaign.

It is not by accident the stretch from Mile Marker 53 to Mile Marker 63 was selected to be a safety corridor. Sais said the area there, and the area just north of Gallup on U.S. 491, have high accident rates. Sais said from 2001 until 2003 the 10-mile area on Interstate 40 has seen a total of 77 crashes and four of those crashes have involved fatalities.

Sais said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration consistently places New Mexico higher than the national average for accident rates. And, as with the stretch between Mile Marker 53 and Mile Marker 63 on Interstate 40, and portions of U.S. 491 north of Gallup, these stretches of road have even a higher accident rate than the state average.

She did not offer any explanation why those particular stretches of road have become more dangerous, but the fact that they are concerns the department of transportation, the state police and other law enforcement agencies.

District Six Engineer Larry Maynard said in a press release, "The New Mexico Department of Transportation is hoping to tackle the high crash, high fatality sections of the highway to make the roads safer for the traveling public. We feel this is a good blueprint to start with, and soon we can say we are no longer one of the highest rated states for crashes and fatalities."

One of the problems with the state's road system is that the roads were built many years ago to handle a certain type and volume of traffic. Like older homes, after a while it becomes less and less cost-effective to fix the places up, and the same can be said for the state's roads as age and traffic continue to eat away at resources.

The safety corridors were identified by the high accident and fatality rates, regardless of whether the accidents were due to weather, high volumes of traffic, truck traffic, the type of terrain, or even unlawful driving such as speeding and driving while drunk.

According to the New Mexico Department of Transportation, with the addition of the two new safety corridors, the number in the state now stands at eight safety corridors.