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July 26, 2001 The Colorado Transportation Commission meets today to discuss which north-south highway through eastern Colorado should eventually be used by an estimated 5,000 trucks a day traveling between Mexico and Canada. Major cities on Interstate 25 — Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo — see more traffic problems than business gain from using I-25, and don’t want the honor. Trinidad, on I-25 just north of the New Mexico state line, is the exception; Trinidad supporters say it could use the economic boost that would come from being on the North American Free Trade Association-designated route. We bet the larger cities will prevail, and that an improved U.S. 287 farther to the east (through Lamar) will get the dubious distinction. Also on the commission’s agenda is the subject of highway-side memorials placed by the families of loved ones killed in a traffic accident. Reports are that the commission is expected to take a tough anti-memorial position, and to declare that memorials are to be immediately removed. The argument is that their size and location are uncontrolled, and they can be a traffic hazard. We would hope that the commission would leave well enough alone and let reasonable memorials remain. The memorials — back from the roadway and modest in size — are important. To families, they are a tribute at the very spot a loved one lost his or her life; to passing motorists, they are a very real reminder that driving is dangerous. A small cross, a memento or two and some plastic flowers are more powerful than a billboard warning. Apparently there have been families who used a concrete base and a good-sized pole for their memorial. That is a hazard and should not be allowed. But that is the exception; the memorials we have seen are a couple of feet high, and about the same width. In addition to limiting size, in the interest of exercising some control the commission could set a time limit on their placement. Their importance to the family may be greatly reduced after six months or a year, for example. Set some duration, and highway crews could remove them after that time. Colorado’s highway regulators, planners and engineers are often accused of not having a heart. Given their mission, to move vehicles as efficiently as possible from point A to point B, that can be the case. Community needs, between those points, are of secondary importance. Some compassion on the issue of roadside memorials will not end this criticism, but it is a step in the right direction. Let the memorials be. Spend today’s meeting time on determining the NAFTA highway designation, and on how lobby the federal government to ensure that the trucks that originate in Mexico are mechanically sound. That is a much more important effort. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
