Concerns raised about Roosevelt intersection

PORTALES — Concern is brewing about unsafe behavior at a Roosevelt County intersection.

At Tuesday’s Roosevelt County Commission meeting, County Manager Amber Hamilton said “extensive concerns” had been expressed about the safety of the intersection of South Roosevelt Road 7 and South Roosevelt Road S, located south of Portales.

“The reports that we’ve received from area residents is that there are repetitive problems with individuals traveling down those roads that are running the stop signs, specifically ... coming down 7,” she said.

Road Superintendent Ricky Lovato proposed to the commission a method of encouraging stopping at stop signs on RR S based on a week-long traffic analysis conducted by the New Mexico Department of Transportation in December.

“Eventually, we’re going to have a pretty major accident there. What we’re thinking is move those two stop signs on 7, east and west bound. Then, people on S will know that they cannot cross over that intersection while there is traffic coming, because there is no longer a stop sign there,” Lovato said.

That proposal didn’t sit well with commissioner Shane Lee, who wondered if removing the stop signs on RR 7 would encourage reckless driving.

“I don’t really want to see that done, because then you’re gonna have people flying down that road, because there’s no stop signs. I think some of those stop signs help control the speed of the traffic on 7,” he said.

Hamilton contended that the nearby two-way stop at Roosevelt Road R 1/2 has not been the subject of concern like RR 7 and RR S.

“Taking it out, we protect the people on S, assuming that people are gonna stop on 7,” Commissioner Matthew Hunton said. “We’ll never stop people from flying down that road, with or without stop signs, if they’re flying down that road anyway.”

Lee requested studies of how many accidents have happened at the intersection of RR 7 and RR S in order to determine “just how dangerous it is.”

Lovato offered to request traffic studies on RR R 1/2 and Roosevelt Road T, so the county could compare issues stopping at each intersection.

While Hamilton could only find records of the past 12 months, she said no accidents had been reported at the intersection in that time.

No action was taken.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting:

• County Attorney Randy Knudson updated the commission about the Roosevelt County Detention Center’s program distributing the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan.

He reported he had received “pushback” from the state after he suggested adding language to the policy that required detainees to “sign something acknowledging that they’ve received training and they were able to use this.”

Knudson shortly received notice from the New Mexico Association of Counties that “they won’t supply the program unless we make the change.”

“I guess we need to take out the language involving informed consent,” he said. “I thought more protection was better than less, but they don’t want somebody to decline the use of this because they refused to sign for their consent.”

• Commissioners approved budget adjustments for the second quarter of 2018, including an increase of $1,200 in the account for the New Mexico Clean and Beautiful Act and the addition of $750,000 in disaster funding from the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

• Commissioners approved $750,000 in disaster funding from NMDHSEM to repair damage caused by a largescale storm during the summer of 2017.

Hamilton said the formal agreement for the grant includes a $250,000 match, totaling $1 million.

“This will not be able to resolve all of the 60 plus miles that were damaged, but we’re looking somewhere between 18, maybe 20 miles that we’re gonna be able to address, and that will all be in that impact zone,” she said.