Finding a Safe crossing
Students darting across Boardman Avenue concern drivers

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. [Photo by Daniel Zollinge/Independent]

GALLUP — Each day during the school year, hundreds of children, from elementary school age on up to junior high, get from the west side of the street to the east the old-fashioned way — they use their feet.

But because of a repaving of Boardman Avenue this past summer, that has become a lot more dangerous because the state has not gotten around to signifying where the crosswalk is, at times leaving the pupils to have to guess where the proper crossing is and confusing drivers over where the school zone actually begins.

On Tuesday, the situation was not too bad as a police officer was on the street to help stop cars and provide students a safe way to get across. But there have been times when the police have not been able to be there, and there have been times before and after the normal school hours where parents have complained to area school officials that pupils have had to cross the street under unsafe conditions.

Capt. John Allen of the Gallup Police Department said his agency has been concerned about the lack of a properly designated crosswalk in front of the police station.

Officials there have contacted the state highway department three times and asked when the proper lines would be put in place.

In each case, he said, state officials said it was being taken care of, but three weeks later, there are still no crosswalks on the street.

“We do have police officers out there before and after school on most days,” Allen said. The police are there to slow down traffic and help students get across the heavily traveled street.

But Allen said during times when there are a lot of calls there is not enough manpower to put someone out to direct traffic, and in those cases, as well as when a pupil wants to cross outside the normal school hours, a properly marked crosswalk is a necessity.

Ron Romero, who is a traffic engineer for the District 6 of the New Mexico Highway Department, said the crosswalks should be put in sometime next week.

He explained that the state uses an outside contractor to do the lines on the street and the contractor currently has a backlog of jobs throughout the state, which is why there has been a delay in this case.

Frank Chiapetti, principal of Gallup Junior High/Miyamura High School, said he was not sure how much use crosswalks would be for his pupils because they cross anywhere they want along the street, whether there are crosswalks or not.

While he has not heard of any pupil being injured crossing the street, at least not in the last few years, school officials have been so concerned that there have been times in the past when they have driven that road after school to keep kids from crossing outside the crosswalks.

This may keep the pupils in line when they see the school officials, but Chiapetti said once they leave, the kids go ahead and continue crossing where they want.