The task force established by the council last year is composed of residents who live along Meadowlark between Loma Larga and the Rio Rancho boundary as well as others appointed for their expertise. It was created after a major controversy over an earlier project to construct bike paths along the roadway that connected to bike paths in Rio Rancho.

Some homeowners along Meadowlark strongly opposed the bike path project which had funding through the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG). They argued the plan at that time did not include provisions for drainage, might exacerbate line-of-sight difficulties for motorists trying to exit driveways and could worsen neighborhood traffic impacts. 

After the council rejected the bike path project and turned back MRCOG funding for it, Councillor Mick Harper won fellow councillors’ approval to appoint a committee to make new recommendations for what might be done to take advantage of the extra-wide, 60-foot right-of-way along upper Meadowlark Lane.  (See Corrales Comment Vol. XXX, No.10 July 9, 2011 “Corrales Gives Back $160,000 for Upper Meadowlark Trail”)

Since then, discussion at task force meetings has ranged from a suggestion that Meadowlark be dead-ended at the Rio Rancho boundary to creating an attractive, landscaped western gateway to Corrales.

At a task force meeting April 23, its chairman, Pam Cox, and member Linda Moore reviewed their latest recommendations as laid out conceptually on a map of the right-of-way from Loma Larga to the Thompson fence line boundary with Rio Rancho.

The most prominent feature was inclusion of a series of “chicanes,” or curves, that repeatedly shift the paved road from one side of the wide right-of-way to the other. 

Where such offsets from the centerline of the right-of-way occur, the conceptual plan shows landscaped areas in the retained space.

Cox and Moore also favored one or more pieces of public art, perhaps close to the boundary with Rio Rancho, that would make it clear to motorists they were entering a different community, not an extension of Rio Rancho.

The task force tried to locate the recommended chicanes along stretches of upper Meadowlark that could include those features without affecting driveways or hindering storm water drainage.

The proposal included a drop inlet along the center line of the lower stretch of roadway where run-off would be collected and diverted to a ponding area along Loma Larga.

The idea of chicanes in a re-configured roadway has been proposed several times in the past two decades. Such  curves tend to slow traffic as motorists instinctively brake to go into a curve. 

That option was presented in the  2004 Village of Corrales Transportation Study prepared by Taschek Environmental Consulting in a paragraph that reads: “Traffic calming devices are employed to introduce self-enforcing capacity and speed reductions on neighborhood streets with the purpose of making arterials (or other major streets) more appealing than local roads to the transient motorist. Traffic calming usually involves a combination of measures such as physical features that narrow a street’s alignment (neckdowns, chokers), create minor curves (chicanes), or in some way influence the ability to travel at high speed (including speed humps).”

The recommendations section of the Taschek report stops short of advising Village officials to implement chicanes or other traffic-calming measures along Meadowlark. “An alternative solution [rather than dead-ending West Meadowlark] would be to implement traffic-calming measures on Meadowlark that would slow traffic without extensive enforcement and possibly help to reduce short-cutting by increasing travel time over the alternative route on NM 528. The traffic-calming measures, which would likely consist of a combination of speed humps and roadway narrowing features, should be analyzed in greater detail.”

Back in September 2004, the mayor and council were wrestling with demands to take steps for traffic relief along upper Meadowlark. Opting for the simplest approach among those suggested to reduce traffic on West Meadowlark Lane, the Village Council  ordered more speed humps.

At their September 14, 2004 meeting, councillors discussed various options presented by Corrales Planning and Zoning Administrator Claudia “Taudy” Smith, including chicanes, narrowing the driving lanes, “no through traffic” signs at Loma Larga, and placing physical barriers to prevent right turns off Meadowlark and left turns off Loma Larga.

Back then, councillors voted unanimously to install six to eight new speed humps on upper West Meadowlark immediately.

The effectiveness of that measure would be evaluated over time, they said,  before deciding on other traffic control options.

Residents along West Meadowlark, who had pushed councillors hard for traffic relief over many years, demanded that some action be taken after completion of Taschek’s village-wide traffic study.

Councillors formally accepted the Corrales Transportation Study at their September 14, 2004 meeting, and at the same meeting, they heard Smith’s recommendations on what to do next.

The late Councillor Bob Bell saw a potentially serious down-side to installing “no turn” signs at the Meadowlark-Loma Larga intersection. Wouldn’t that probably cause more traffic to flow onto Corrales Road? he asked.

When Smith conceded that, Bell returned to the speed hump option. “If we’re talking about eight to ten speed humps on upper Meadowlark, I’m sure it would work, but I’d like to see something a little more creative.”

Such an idea was introduced from the audience that evening by Pueblo los Cerros resident Dick Hope who pointed out that the City of San Francisco uses serpentine street alignments on hills similar to upper Meadowlark.

Former P&Z Commission Chairman Bob Borman suggested a more holistic approach, warning that “you need to be very careful when you make a small, little tweak in the system that it doesn’t create a very serious problem somewhere else down the road.

“If you were going to restrict turns as one of your options, during both morning and afternoon rush hour, you also need to do that in conjunction with restricting the through-traffic that will eventually end up on Corrales Road.”

Borman suggested federal funding might be available for a comprehensive “streetscape” project for West Meadowlark. That could be possible, he said, because the Mid-region Council of Governments (which channels federal and state transportation funds) lists Meadowlark as a regional collector road.

“I believe that means that the Village can seek federal funding while it is designated as a collector road. If it were simply designated as a local road it would not be eligible.”

Borman said he was skeptical of the relative low costs estimated for dealing with the traffic reduction problem. “I wish it were just $12,000 for speed humps and a couple of thousand for striping. 

“I think we need to be realistic. What we’re talking about here for the folks on West Meadowlark is a ‘streetscape’ project. It may be a combination of medians, landscaping, trails, speed humps and all sorts of things.

“In order to really do this job right, it’s going to take big bucks.”

Borman suggested that Village staff contact the Council of Governments  “to confirm that the information I was given about two years ago is still current and correct.”

He also urged the Village to approach residents along Meadowlark to “voluntarily remove whatever improvements they have that lie within the Village’s right-of-way.

“I think we will be amazed when we see what an approximately 60-foot right-of-way looks like” between the Corrales Main Canal and the Rio Rancho boundary, especially along the north side of the road.

“A lot of these people who are asking you for help need to cooperate and voluntarily remove those obstructions that have taken place over the years in the Village’s right-of-way.”

When Bell asked Smith which traffic control measures she would recommend, she said physical barriers limiting right turns onto Loma Larga and left turns onto Meadowlark would be “most effective in limiting volume.”

Councillor Melanie Scholer said  she thinks “physical barriers are the only way to be effective.”

But when Meadowlark residents Earl Moore and Danny Cox spoke, they urged councillors to act quickly to install speed humps as the first attempt to address the traffic problems.

“What we’re asking for is relief from high-volume traffic and the associated abuses. We’re not asking for anything that has not been asked by residents of Rio Rancho,” Los Ranchos and Albuquerque where speed humps have been installed to reduce traffic volume. 

“These things do work.… Tests have shown that if you do these speed bumps properly, they will have an effect. If you do them less than properly, you’re wasting your time.

“What we’re asking for is the results from properly installed speed bumps. That’s all we’re asking for.”

Mayor Gary Kanin asked Moore whether speed bumps were his preference among the options. Moore replied: “I would say ‘yes,’ because we believe they have been proven to be effective in other areas. I can’t believe there’s a community in the United States that hasn’t had this challenge. Speed bumps have proven to be successful.”

Shortly after they spoke supporting speed bumps, councillors voted to install them as soon as possible.

Some villagers were already protesting  the idea of adding more speed humps on Meadowlark. Sandi Hoover sent a letter to the mayor and councillors September 20, 2004 urging that better alternatives be found. “Once more we are witnessing a situation where a vocal residential group is trying, with limited vision, to solve a problem without using constructive or creative ideas. ‘We have speeders… put in more speed bumps! That will fix them!’

“Well, yes, it might, although we have  seen how vindictive people can become when they feel their rights have been infringed. All we have to do is look at the upper end of Meadowlark and the stop sign on the Rio Rancho line to see what rancor we can create with our neighbors.”

Hoover chided Village officials for not attending “Walkable Communities Workshops” earlier that year for creative ideas to address the traffic problems. She attended two sessions as a member of the Corrales Road Scenic Byways Committee.

 “We don’t have to resort to a form of traffic control that creates problems for our fire and medical trucks, inconveniences normal traffic and penalizes everyone and doesn’t solve the problem in the most effective way possible,” Hoover argued.

“In spite of agitation, the Village Council should not rush into a solution. Take time to look at alternatives that will provide a sensible long-term answer to the problem, and that will allow the appropriate use of one of our few east-west streets.”

She concluded her letter by noting, “Unless one is willing to move to a mountaintop and become a hermit, living in society is a series of compromises. There needs to be a search for a viable compromise on Meadowlark.”

P&Z Administrator Smith’s September 8, 2004 memo  on traffic calming techniques for Meadowlark suggested the following, including chicanes.

“1. Speed Humps. Designed to highway heights and standards account for inverted crown drainage; Upper Meadowlark is approximately .6 mile or 3,168 feet; spacing is estimated at 400 feet, requires eight humps. Cost for humps and signs estimated at $1,500 per, total $12,000.

“2. Install signage such as ‘No through traffic,” “residential traffic only.” Signage is recommended in addition to any of the following traffic calming tests. Cost estimated at approximately $200 per sign, two signs minimum.

“3. Rumble strips at the Thompson fence line [Rio Rancho boundary]. Researching if temporary strips are available and for best standard permanent type of rumble. Costs not available at this time. Noise pollution is a factor.

“4. Narrow the paving surface. a. Striping the shoulders; b. berms at the shoulders… c. fencing… d. adding trails with barriers… e. bubble the roadway out in one or two places; creates a slower speed, curves the road. f. place islands in one or two places.

“5. Physical barriers restricting right turns off Meadowlark and left turns off Loma Larga. Temporary traffic barrels to restrict turns would be installed during the peak traffic times (7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 4:45 to 6 p.m.) and removed by Village employees. This allows residents full access during the rest of the day. Test the results in six months (20 percent reduction as a goal). If results are positive, install permanent signage restricting turns at peak hours; install permanent partial diverters (do not restrict the turn, but make it slow and awkward).

“6. Remove the stop signs on Loma Larga.

“7. Enforcement. Weight limit.”