Talks continue over widening of 491

A semi truck speeds past an unused bridge on U.S. 491 between Shiprock and Newcomb on Friday evening. This new bridge has been sitting next to 491 for more than a year in preparation for making US 491 four lanes from Tohatchi to Red Valley. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — It was Jan. 10, 2005.

New Mexico Transportation Secretary Rhonda Fought and a delegation of Navajo Nation officials were gathered a few miles south of Shiprock to break ground on an ambitious state project to widen the notorious 68 miles of U.S. Highway 491 between Twin Lakes and Red Valley from two lanes to four. Together they promised a new and improved 491 that would not only help spur economic development on the impoverished reservation but save lives.

Two years later, all they have to show are a pair of disconnected bridges a few dozen feet east of mile posts 66 and 68 where the new northbound lanes will some day run.

No one ever expected it to be a quick job, or a cheap one. From the start the state said the $125 million project would take at least four years. Yet with all of two idle bridges they can do nothing but look at, the rural communities strung out along the aging highway are beginning to wonder what's taking so long.

According to the Transportation Department's latest news release on the project now 10 months old state and tribal officials expect construction to begin this spring. But neither the Navajo Nation's lead attorney on the project nor the Transportation Department's spokesman answered The Independent's numerous requests for further comment.

That doesn't mean the state and tribe haven't been talking with each other, however.

U.S. Highway 491 may be a federal route, and the state may be putting up the cash to widen it. But the land the state plans to use is the tribe's. They've been negotiating terms and conditions for months.

According to both state and tribal employees familiar with the talks, however, the tribe has been having a hard time convincing the state to meet some of its conditions.

"Right now the main thing that's going on is the right-of-way acquisitions," said the Navajo Nation Transportation Department's Tom Platero.

According to Arvin Trujillo, executive director of the tribe's Division of Natural Resources, the state wants to pay a one-time fee for the land. But the tribe, he said, is thinking of asking for recurring fees at least it was at one point.

Fernando Trujillo, an assistant district engineer for the state, said it still is.

"(Navajo Nation negotiators) haven't set their mind to it," he said, "but they have discussed it."

More precisely, he added, the tribe may want the fees distributed over the course of several years, with the option to adjust them later on.

None of them, however, know how much money they're talking about.

According to he and Platero, the tribe is also asking for preference when the state starts hiring its work crews.

"You can give Indian preference, but to get it more specific to say Navajo (preference), that's a little more tricky," Trujillo said.

Federal law prohibits the state from restricting the applicant pool to just Navajos, Trujillo said, but he's confident the state and tribe will be able to work something out.

And as one of the only two things certain in life, as the saying goes, taxes are another issue. According to Platero, the state is saying no to the Navajo Nation's request that a three percent tribal business activity tax be applied to the project.

For all their wrangling, the state and especially the tribe should have good reason to get construction started as soon as possible.

As the main corridor connecting Interstate 40 to the Four Corners area, a four-lane 491 can only help bring more business to the Navajo Nation's eastern reaches. Fernando Trujillo said people are already talking about building more restaurants and service stations along the route in anticipation.

"Having a four-lane highway along the reservation helps us in advancing economic development," Arvin Trujillo said, "but the main issue we're looking at is safety."

According to data collected by the University of New Mexico, Highway 491 witnessed 640 crashes involving 38 deaths between 2000 and 2004. While there's no good reason to believe those numbers make the route more dangerous than any other, it hasn't stopped locals from believing it is. Being numbered 666, before Gov. Bill Richardson changed that in 2003 didn't help.

"The flow of traffic is increasing every day," said Carol Bitsoi, chapter coordinator for the tiny community of Sheepsprings, which sits on Highway 491 just between from Gallup and Shiprock.

But with only two lanes to handle it all, she considers the route a certified "health hazard."

"Four lanes would probably help eliminate some of the problem," she said.

According to material on the state's Web site, the project is slated for completion in the spring of 2009, a little over two years from now. Assuming no major complications, Fernando Trujillo believes it's still within reach.