Deadly Boardman
Everyone agrees: Pedestrian protection needed on busy street

Gallup Police Sgt. Erin Pablo motions to traffic to stop while escorting school children across Boardman Ave. in Gallup N.M. Recent repaving of the road has left it without a marked crosswalk. In addition, there have been complaints that that traffic often speeds through the school zone. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

A child crosses Boardman Ave. in Gallup N.M. without the benefit of a marked crosswalk Tuesday afternoon after school was let out for the day. Recent repaving of the road has left it without a marked crosswalk. In addition, there have been complaints that that traffic often speeds through the school zone. [Independent File Photo]

GALLUP — Something needs to be done about making Boardman Avenue safer for students who have to cross it twice daily to and from their homes to school.

That was the consensus of practically everyone who was asked about the situation after a woman was killed crossing Broadman early Thursday morning.

The victim, identified as Luanna Rangel, 34, of Gallup, was a cook at Miyamura High School. The driver, John

Baumgardner, 64, of Continental Divide, was given a citation for violating a pedestrian’s right of way.

Deputy Police Chief John Allen said Rangel was walking across the crosswalk from the police building side to the school side when she was hit. By that time, Allen said, she had crossed more than 75 percent across the street.

By the time school started, word had gotten out that the road had finally claimed a victim.

Staff at Jefferson Elementary, who had been complaining for weeks about the lack of a crosswalk on the road, said Thursday afternoon when they first heard that someone had died, their first thought was that it was a student.

A lot of the pupils going to school early saw the covered body, which was still at the scene.

Everyone in Tom Payton’s last class at JFK Middle School had heard about the accident and the five pupils in that class who travel across the road on a daily basis said they were more worried than ever about their safety.

By the time school was out Thursday, things had gotten back to normal — while most pupils walked down to the police station to use the crosswalk, several decided it was too far to walk and jaywalked across the street at various points.

Allen said police will continue to provide crossing guards before and after school but there are no plans to have police officers there any earlier.

“The accident occurred at 6:30 a.m. at a time when pedestrian traffic is very light,” he said.

He added that this kind of accident could have occurred anywhere in Gallup. For the police department to change its procedures for this kind of situation would be the same as if police would be assigned to cover U.S. Highway 491 north of Gallup at 3 p.m. every day in case another car heads south on the northbound lane.

Up until Sunday, when city crews marked out a crosswalk, students didn’t have a crosswalk to use to make the crossing on Boardman Avenue a little safer.

Stan Henderson, director of public works for the city, said his office decided to go ahead and put the crosswalk in after learning that the company the state subcontracted this work to was busy on other projects.

He said there are plans in the future to put a stop light at Boyd and Boardman, but that’s still three or five years in the future. The priority right now is to find the $1.1 million it will take to put in a light at Second Street and Park.

But while a light at Boyd will help JFK, which is located just north of there, because cars would be stopped or slowed down, it probably would not be as beneficial for Miyamura further up on Boardman because cars would have had time to get back up to speed by that time.

Frank Chiapetti, principal at Miyamura, said he met with Central Office staff during Karen White’s time as school superintendent, and there was an attempt to get the state to declare speed restrictions all down Boardman. State officials, however, said they could do it only for elementary and mid-schools.

He said the speed restrictions are needed up past the high school because of the students living in the Red Hills Mobile Park who cross by the high school because there’s a trail that goes through the allotted lands across from the school directly to the trailer park.

He and other school officials have made it clear that any students caught doing this will be punished but every day, students ignore the threats and take the fastest way home.

Chiapetti said he has given up on getting a bridge or a walkway constructed to make travel across the road safe.

“I’m going to get together with Sammy Orr (principal at JFK) and Don Mitchell (principal at Jefferson Elementary) and with people at the Central Office and see what kind of pressure we can put on the state, county and city to resolve this problem,” he said.