Hwy. 60 realignment study receives lots of public comment

The Highway 60 Socorro Alignment study stakeholders meeting met online last week to discuss the pending project within the city limits of Socorro.

Wyatt Kartchner, project manager from Molzen Corbin, led the meeting and presented refined alternatives for each segment between mileposts 136 to 139, just west of the rodeo arena to California Street. The segments are split up from the west as rural, urban, y-intersection, and urban east.

“Today, we really want to review the public input refined alternatives and develop consistency around the recommended alternative for U.S. 60 through Socorro,” Kartchner said.

Kartchner said they received about 80 comments from the public on the project, which, given the size of the community, he considered to be a high volume of responses.

“We did feel like we got a lot of input from the public, so just to summarize the input that we received, The biggest thing that people were concerned about was safety, which makes sense. There’s a lot of folks in Socorro that are walking and biking along this corridor.” Kartchner said.

Concerns included bike and pedestrian safety, especially regarding crossing intersections and speeding. He said the public showed interest in a multi-use path throughout the corridor.

The comments submitted also showed that ambulance routes to the hospital, space for big trucks, wind turbines and school bus access were important to the community.

“There were folks that had the desire for a traffic signal at the Y intersection. However, the traffic volumes at this point do not warrant a signal at that location. So while it is a desire of the community, it’s not something that can be justified at this time,” Kartchner said. “There was also a large number of folks that were in favor of the roundabout at the Y-intersection, and so that was something that we wanted to carry forward as well.”

Mayor Ravi Bhasker agreed as long as it was a one-lane roundabout, “I just think it would flow better with the roundabout.”

Kartchner recommended a typical section, which includes a raised median in the middle, one driving lane in each direction and one bike lane in each direction throughout the whole project.

“Right now, there’s kind of three distinct segments. It’s kind of really broken up. There’s not any continuation throughout the entire corridor. And so what we had come up with is a continuous typical section from one end of the project to the other. That way it looks like you’re in Socorro. You know where you’re at and it gives you that sense of place.” Kartchner said.

Bhasker said he believed the typical section would help slow down traffic.

“I think that makes a lot more sense to make it, like you said, cohesive for the city, and not look like you’ve got an interstate going through here.” Bhasker said.

Bhasker brought up potential new traffic with the building of the new middle school and he suggested that the Socorro Consolidated Schools be involved in the conversation.

After the meeting, Kartchner confirmed that they did make contact with the schools, and they told him the Highway 60 entrance would not be used by students. He said public meeting at the Socorro Convention Center in early October will be confirmed soon.

The U.S. 60 Socorro Alignment study began in 2022. The project aims to reconstruct U.S. 60 to address safety issues and improve infrastructure in Socorro. Funding for the study phase currently includes state funds through House Bill 2-2021 Legislative Session (HB2-21).