Posted on 11/28/2006 7:43:57 AM PST by CedarDave
SANTA FE— Rancho Viejo residents made it clear to state officials Monday night: they do not want the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter train to run through their neighborhood.
Nearly 250 residents packed the Institute of American Indian Arts auditorium for an event organized by community members. Residents told officials with the state Department of Transportation and the Mid-Region Council of Governments that having the train run near their homes would create too much noise and traffic.
Robin Dorrell— along with her husband, Daniel Clavio, who organized the meeting— advised the group to go to the Rancho Viejo Community Association headquarters and express their concerns to the president of the association and write letters to the state to get rid of a proposed Rail Runner alignment that would come closest to Rancho Viejo.
State officials are still taking public comments as they try to finalize their selection of two alternative routes for the train from La Bajada to Santa Fe.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
The plans won't even be finalized by 2008. 2020, maybe.
Re-route the line so that it runs by Joe and Valerie Wilson's house.
It's not light rail, but heavy rail. Richardson bought the original BNSF line from Belen to Bernalillo with option to buy the rest of the line to the Colorado border as needed! Amtrak and freight use it the rest of the time.
You don't need a car to get around Santa Fe! It has a world-class public transportation infrastructure.
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This is a Democrat's wet dream project. It has been talked about for years, but the answer is that mainly state employees and maybe some tourists will ride it as the cost of living is too high to live in Santa Fe for normal folks. And Santa Fe being very liberal thinks that this is their contribution to reducing global warming. The problem is that the interstate with a 75 mph speedlimit is a direct route and it can be travelled by car in 50 minutes. The train will never beat that. However, if you ride the train, your chance of being hit by a wrong way DUI driver on I-25 will be eliminated (two reported incidents, six deaths in the past two weeks with another two dead on I-40).
Like AMtrak will pay any return. (pppfffttt)
Is it 90 lb rail?
And now will NM have a railroad maintenance division in its DOT to keep this part of the system up to standard?
Alaska used to own a Railroad, but we sold it (sort of). Now it is run by a quasi-state agency/private organization. The orgaization doesn't pay taxes but does manage to have derailments like "real" railroads.
So, is theat public transport pedal driven or shoe-leather express?
It's the old Santa Fe mainline, so I imagine it's 112 lb, at least.
Cool, will the State be doing the maintenance or will that be outsourced?
Given that Richardson is a Democrat and that New Mexico is a state that really believes in patronage, my guess would be that they're looking at a special (i.e., overstaffed and highly paid) division of the NMDOT.
Both. You can manage downtown on foot, as it is fairly compact, but once you want to go anywhere else, you need wheels.
Ah, too true. Most State governments believe in that. Ask any taxpayer : )
Are the Democrats agitating for a cut-and-run pullout from the NM Interstates?
They are a quagmire.
I was almost hit from behind early this year by some knucklehead who thought that the 75 mph limit applied even when the road was icy. I was westbound on 40 near Mesita.
The look on his face as he went by in his spinning car was priceless.
I have some friends that are looking to move to NM. SF was just "too much" (appearently for everything - social, housing, attutude) so they are looking a bit further afield.
Las Lunas and the surrondng area is where they are looking now. They liked Cloudcroft, but after a visit, the deemed it was 'too much' as well.
I had always thought Jemez Springs or Red River would be the nice place to retire to or have a second home.
ROTFLMAO - some days you just wish you had a dash mount camera...
I used to live in Rio Rancho, which is a nice town from a political perspective and has great schools. It's not real pretty, but it's conveniently located.
Las Lunas is in Valencia County, which has a big problem with gangs and drugs and such.
If they want a really small town with nice scenery, they should look at Datil.
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