By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The New Mexico Department of Transportation closed I-25’s northbound lanes up to Raton Pass late last week just before the weekend of June 12-13, 2021 and it took less than three days before the first incident closed northbound I-25 for about 45 minutes Sunday afternoon June 13, 2021.
The interstate is now a single lane wide, only wide enough for one car not two to get by, going both north and south on the south bound lanes of the roadway. There is a solid barrier separating traffic which runs from the new construction at the top of the pass all the way down past the north Raton exit near mile marker 454 just west of the North First overpass. That is over five miles of single lane traffic with no way to cross over to the southbound lane from the northbound side until Fire Chief Anthony Burk with great persistence and work was able to convince the highway department to put in crossovers. NMDOT put in two crossovers but more are needed.
In order to retrieve a wrecked vehicle in the southbound lane a wrecker will have to back up the roadway from the closest crossover which could be as much as two miles away or a crane will have to be brought in to move the vehicle to the northbound side for retrieval. Either situation could cause a multiple hour closure of the interstate.
Sunday afternoon a vehicle caught fire on the northbound lane near mile marker 457. The vehicle was able to get over and out of the lane of traffic. The northbound lane was closed near mile marker 454 where the north bound lanes cross over into the south bound side of the interstate. Raton Fire was able to make it up to the incident to extinguish the fire by using the northbound construction lane to the location of the incident.
With the interstate closed drivers attempted to go around the problem by going through Raton where signage that the interstate is closed is sparse and small and if you’re not paying close attention while you are driving down the street and not familiar with the area you can easily drive by the single sign indicating the detour goes to the right down under the north underpass onto Sugarite Ave or Highway 72 to I-25. What happens when the north underpass floods again? According to City Manager Scott Berry the city plans to increase signage within the city to help drivers and prevent the problem of having to turn around a long camper trailer or truck near the Raton Pass Inn in north Raton.
Construction on the interstate is scheduled to continue this summer with rock removal on the north bound side to try and prevent further rock slides from impacting the highway. Berry noted that he had not been given a construction schedule and was not aware of how long the detour would be in place. Michael Brown, owner of the Raton Pass Inn was told six months is how long the detour would be in place.
