Summary
Residents, school officials and law enforcement told the committee that fatalities on NM 26 and wide loads on NM 9 endanger rural travelers and schoolchildren, and that sudden dust storms on I‑10 require more enforcement, communications and short‑term engineering fixes.
State and local officials told the Legislative Transportation Committee on Wednesday that rural highways in southwest New Mexico — particularly New Mexico 26, New Mexico 9 and Interstate 10 — present acute safety risks from crashes, oversized loads and sudden dust storms that can produce zero visibility.
District 1 DOT and county officials gave crash figures for New Mexico 26 and said short-term countermeasures are ready while longer-term widening would take years. Aaron Chavarria, NMDOT district engineer, said the agency will resurface the first 15 miles and add centerline rumble strips from Deming to Hatch as near-term safety measures. "We're gonna be adding center line rumble strips...These are short term fixes, that can address some inattention of drivers," Chavarria said. The county manager said there have been 13 fatalities since 2020 on the corridor.
Why it matters: legislators heard that NM 26 has become a de facto interstate shortcut for commercial traffic when I‑40 or other routes close, increasing head-on and passing crashes. Lawmakers also heard disturbing testimony about Highway 9 and oversized/escort practices that endanger school buses and local traffic in Animas and Columbus.
School-bus and wide-load concerns: Animas Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Gephardt and local rancher Russell Johnson described narrow two-lane stretches on Highway 9 used by school buses and by oversized wide loads (including wind-turbine components). Gephardt, who also drives a bus, said routes can put children on a bus for more than 90 minutes each way and that narrow shoulders and steep drop-offs make pullouts unsafe. "If you're on a bus, driving a bus with a bus full of kids, and you get knocked off the road, basically, or forced off the road, it gets scary," Gephardt said. Johnson and other witnesses described escorts that sometimes enter the traffic lane and said many wide loads operate without proper pilot cars or do not observe curfew hours that are in permit conditions.
Dust storms and I‑10: Hidalgo County Sheriff and state police described dust storms on I‑10 that can reduce visibility to near zero within minutes. Sheriff Chadbourne and Sergeant Joseph Flores said their officers sometimes lack staff to close multiple interstate exits and that first responders are put at high risk during shutdown attempts. "I've been stuck in these dust storms...in less than 5 minutes," Flores said, recounting response to a multi‑vehicle crash that produced fatalities. Committee members asked for expanded coordination among NMDOT, state police, county sheriffs and the National Weather Service, plus improved public-warning systems and local mitigation of dust sources.
Short-term and longer-term fixes discussed: witnesses urged a mix of steps the committee could pursue: centerline rumble strips and targeted resurfacing on NM 26; temporary passing lanes or permanent two‑lane widening in high‑crash segments; stricter enforcement of curfews and escort requirements for wide loads on Highway 9; a rural expansion of NMDOT's "Target Zero" safety program; portable message signs and improved radio/cell communications along remote stretches; and additional law‑enforcement resources to manage dust‑storm closures on I‑10.
Ending: Committee members asked DOT for project timelines and data and discussed follow-up briefings. Local officials asked the legislature to consider funding and staffing solutions to allow faster implementation of short‑term safety fixes and to develop more robust dust‑storm warning and highway‑closure protocols.
