For many in the Las Cruces community, bicycling, walking, and public transit are used as primary modes of transportation. But the roads can be a dangerous place. According to the United States Department of Transportation, New Mexico has the highest number of pedestrian fatalities per capita at nearly twice the national average rate.
George Pearson is the President of Velo Cruces, a cycling advocacy nonprofit. He said that while the roads in Las Cruces have gotten safer over the years, more needs to be done.
“We’ve got the planning and effort, that’s been going really well, but we do really need some implementation. My desire and wish is that we have safe bicycle facilities to travel from City Hall to the NMSU campus,” he said. “Protected bike lanes are a facility type that would separate bicyclists from vehicles, but we don’t have any in Las Cruces. That’s something that’s been on some plans, but they haven’t actually been implemented yet.”
According to the League of American Bicyclists, New Mexico has 9.3 cyclist fatalities for every 10,000 bike commuters, with 85% of people killed on arterial roadways.
Pearson says a focus on cycling infrastructure can help make roads safer and create a more inclusive community.
“Everybody has to get someplace and the way they choose to get there needs to be respected. A lot of people and infrastructure has kind of forced vehicles on people. Some people can’t drive a vehicle and then they have to rely on either transit or bicycles or even walking. So we need to make sure that we build safe facilities so that everybody can move,” he said.
According to some public officials within the city, Pearson’s goal of creating safer streets is seen as a priority. Becki Graham, Las Cruces City Councilor for District 3, said that she understands the frustration expressed by advocates.
“All redesigned streets are being created with pedestrian and cyclist safety in mind. But more importantly is what you might think of as the infill kind of safety. So what can we do to take our existing design and make it as safe and welcoming as possible? And that is a collaboration between the city councilors, public works department, who is in charge of the streets and street redesign, and again, the local cycling community and really dedicated advocates who are there to bring us best practices and challenge us to make those best practices a priority,” she said.
However, one of the main complaints of Pearson and other advocates is that the city’s Active Transportation Coordinator position is vacant, and with recent cyclist deaths in the community, they say the position is needed now more than ever. David Sedillo is the City’s Public Works Director. He said that the vacant position hasn’t affected his department.
“That’s a position with our Planning and Implementation Program. We do work closely with them on our projects, again, tied to the active transportation plan to be able to implement some of those identified bike lanes, boulevards, shared lanes, those types of things,” he said. “It hasn’t affected public works because there are staff in Planning and Implementation that have taken on those duties in the interim, and we have been in coordination with them discussing those matters on projects as we move forward.”
Sedillo said that while the state’s number of pedestrian deaths per capita is high, he’s confident in the city’s plans to make Las Cruces’s streets safer.
“The Public Works staff is dedicated to ensuring that these things change and that they improve. And we’re working hard to do that,” he said. “And as far as an organization goes, I think that is a focus of the organization moving forward. We don’t feel that losing one life on the roadway is acceptable. We understand that those things do happen, and we are working to see what we can do to help minimize those things.”
In the ongoing effort to ensure the safety of all road users, the conversation around bicycling and pedestrian safety remains a critical focal point for the Las Cruces community.
