Residents sound off on dangerous Rio Rancho corridor in town hall meeting

RIO RANCHO — Just a stone’s throw away from an intersection where a local couple was killed in a traffic accident last fall, Rio Rancho residents gathered in a town hall meeting Tuesday to offer numerous suggestions to state officials on how to fix a dangerous highway corridor.

Rep. Alan Martinez, R-Rio Rancho, and New Mexico Department of Transportation Secretary Ricky Serna met with more than 100 residents at the Church of the Incarnation, located off of Monterey Road Northeast — near the Pasilla Road/Rivers Edge intersection on New Mexico Highway 528, where Patrick and Joanne Salerno were fatally struck in October.

Martinez, who paused for a moment of silence to honor the couple, told attendees, “We’re here to listen” and inform them what staff officials are doing to address the intersection.

“I know this is a very emotional issue because we’ve lost friends and neighbors, and this is just part of honoring them,” he said.

The intersection of NM 528 and Pasilla has turn lanes in both directions with a strip of concrete median cut out to let vehicles turn left from the road onto the highway. But the intersection has no stoplight, which was an apparent factor that led to the Salernos’ crash.

On Oct. 12, 2024, with his wife, Joanne, in the car, Patrick Salerno made a stop at the stop sign on Pasilla before attempting to cross multiple lanes of traffic on the highway, where they were struck on their way back home on Riverside Drive Northeast, according to a Rio Rancho Police Department report. Joanne Salerno was able to provide police with those details before her death at a nearby hospital a day later, the report said. Patrick Salerno died on Oct. 17, according to the report.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Deacon George Meyerson, of the Church of the Incarnation, read a letter from Patrick Salerno Jr., who asked officials to “fix this intersection immediately” and put road posts in as a stopgap measure.

“Please do not let their deaths be for nothing,” the junior Salerno wrote in his letter, read by Meyerson. “They would want you to make changes so nobody else gets hurt.”

Leah Yates, who lives behind the highway, advocated during the meeting for a turn lane at the intersection, which has seen numerous traffic accidents over the years. Yates noted she has witnessed first responders extricate crash victims from their cars and helicopters land not far from her home to airlift them to hospitals.

“How many more lives have to be lost?” Yates asked.

In 2017, the intersection was the subject of a NMDOT study, which found no measures were needed, wrote agency spokesperson Kimberly Gallegos in an email to the Observer. During Tuesday’s meeting, Yates and others were critical of the way the study was conducted.

Serna, who became secretary in 2022, noted the study before taking residents’ questions, acknowledging that in the years since it was conducted, traffic patterns have likely changed for a growing city like Rio Rancho. That’s why NMDOT officials recently launched a second study, expected to be complete in September.

“There will be a lot of data collection,” Serna said, adding drones will be used to capture traffic patterns. “We’ll check in with them to make sure they’re on track (for completion).”

The study’s solutions will help officials determine how to design a new intersection before crews construct it, he said.

In the meantime, NMDOT has identified solutions, including eliminating the ability to make a left turn out of the intersection, Serna said.

He also blamed speed as a problem for some traffic accidents in the intersection and said a NMDOT might be interested in partnering with the city police department to monitor the road. Gallegos confirmed in an email that NMDOT has been in discussions with the city regarding speed mitigation measures along the corridor.

Other interim solutions could include “safety corridor” designation and road rumble strips, Serna said. He added that NMDOT wants to ensure the study accounts for any interim solutions made.

Following the meeting, the secretary acknowledged the passion residents showed for improving the intersection.

“We want to move quickly — and we will — and we want to be sure that what we do wasn’t done rushed,” Serna said. “We can get in here, do the right thing and do something that this community can put behind them.”

But for some residents, like Susan Leyba, who spoke at the meeting, change cannot come fast enough.

“(September) is a long time to go,” she said. “More people could get killed or hurt within that amount of time.”