SEE Proves Transportation Skeptics Wrong

By MIKE HARTRANFT Rio Rancho Journal Editor

You’ve got to hand it to Sandoval County — congratulations are in order this time.

The Sandoval Easy Express — SEE — will reach out to our neighbors with transportation needs in more rural parts of the county, often overlooked from our so-called urban corner. Service begins Monday.

For starters, SEE will connect the Jemez and Cochiti areas to Bernalillo and Rio Rancho, which, of course, have connections via bus and the Rail Runner commuter train to Albuquerque and beyond. Obviously, nothing would prevent us from boarding the SEE bus for a trip to the Jemez and Cochiti areas, two of the more beautiful parts of our county.

It’s remarkable, in many ways: The public transportation system in place now — making it possible to board a SEE shuttle in Jemez Springs, catch a bus in Rio Rancho for the Rail Runner station in the North Valley and then take a train to Albuquerque, Los Lunas and Belen — didn’t exist a year ago. Not too many years ago, I was among the skeptics who wondered if all the talk about regional transportation was anything but talk.

Well, here we are.

To be sure, Sandoval County, one of the first local governmental entities to join the Regional Transit Authority and an early investor in the Rail Runner, has been at the forefront of the effort.

Now, people have to take advantage of the system.

WELCOME TO BERNALILLO: Speaking of foresight, the town fathers who approved a 1,300-acre annexation that stretched the town of Bernalillo’s boundaries west across the river 22 years ago are seeing their actions pay off.

The annexed land includes the 23-acre site of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter off Montoya Road, south of the U.S. 550/N.M. 528 intersection. The property, where grading work is under way, is also across the street from the Enchanted Hills subdivision in Rio Rancho, whose residents will presumably be major customers.

Unfortunately for Rio Rancho — but of great benefit to Bernalillo — the bulk of the gross receipts tax revenues generated by Wal-Mart will end up in the town’s coffers.

The town moved quickly in 1985 on a landowners’ petition to annex the property, realizing that its opportunities to expand, particularly on the commercial front, were fast disappearing. It also realized that Rio Rancho was rapidly expanding and annexing land itself, including what would become Enchanted Hills. In fact, a portion of the town’s annexation proposal overlapped with Rio Rancho’s.

As it turned out, the annexation brought into the town limits an important stretch of frontage along U.S. 550 west of the river, the old Price’s Dairy area, which is rapidly developing with homes, and, of course, the site for Wal-Mart.

HIGHWAY DEDICATION: A final note — the formal dedication of N.M. 528 as the Pat D’Arco Highway is scheduled for May 17.

The new name is a tribute to former Rio Rancho Mayor Pat D’Arco for his tireless work over the years to improve the city’s roads.

State officials, including the governor, and many other dignitaries are expected to be on hand for the event.

(c) 2007 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.