A head-on collision that claimed the life of a woman in Meadow Lake over the weekend is spurring concerns from residents who say Meadow Lake needs more than one road in and out of the community.

“It’s a shame it takes this type of an accident to point out just how vulnerable Meadow Lake is by only having one access road in and out of a community of almost 6,000 residents,” said Bob Gosticha, who lives in Meadow Lake.

The wreck occurred on a one-mile stretch of Meadow Lake Road between the Manzano Expressway and Dairy Road, shutting down access to and from Meadow Lake for nearly four and a half hours. That short stretch of road is the only way a vehicle can get in or out of Meadow Lake without off-roading on private or state land.

Three roads run east and west through much of Meadow Lake. Of the three, Meadow Lake Road is the central boulevard residents use to get in and out of the area. Another is Fence Line Road, which isn’t paved and runs along Meadow Lake’s northern border with Isleta Pueblo.

Fence Line Road has the potential to be an alternative route out of Meadow Lake, but the road isn’t publicly accessible west of Meadow Lake because it runs into private property. The road, however, does provide access to many other neighborhoods within Meadow Lake, which is why Gosticha said Fence Line Road must remain open and accessible.

Another resident, Liz Turner, said roads that run perpendicular to Fence Line Road have been gated shut by some Meadow Lake residents, making the road more difficult to access than it used to be.

She said a recent fire north of Fence Line Road highlighted the problem.

“I watched the fire trucks go up and down roads trying to figure out how to get to it,” Turner said. “We have got to open our roads back up so we can get to Fence Line. We’ve got four roads blocked off.”

Commissioner Don Holliday, who represents Meadow Lake, said the property owner at the western end of Fence Line Road has refused to allow the road to continue west through the property, blocking a second route out of Meadow Lake.

With that private property to the west and Isleta Pueblo to the north, the only other way out of Meadow Lake is south, where the State of New Mexico owns land.

“There needs to be another way in and out,” Holliday said.

That’s why he’s weighing a potential solution to Meadow Lake’s problem.

He wants the state to allow a new and possibly limited-access road south of Meadow Lake on state land, connecting Dairy Road with the Manzano Expressway. If necessary, the road could be closed with a lock and used only during emergencies as an alternative route in and out of Meadow Lake, he said.

“In the case of an emergency, we could divert the traffic,” he said.

Holliday plans to initiate talks about the issue with state officials.

“I’m going to present it to our legislators and see what they can do for us,” he said.

This page was published on February 4, 2010 at 8:34am and is filed under Infrastructure.