Albuquerque Journal Westside
Dec 11, 2007
Residents Want Ditches Kept as They Are
By Carolyn Carlson, Journal Staff Writer
Preserved and enhanced but
not necessarily changed.
That was the consensus of those attending a workshop
to envision what a trail
along the Griegos Drain from Griegos to Chavez Road
would look like.
More than 100 participants attended the Ditches with
Trails design workshop
Thursday through Saturday and discussed the opportunities
and challenges of the
Ditches With Trails North Valley Demonstration Project.
There are about 300 miles of ditches crisscrossing
Bernalillo County, according to
the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District.
The ditches, primarily dirt-packed, feature narrow
rights of way with banks to
accommodate single walkers or a maintenance vehicle.
They host cottonwood
trees and other vegetation.
"They want to preserve and enhance but not build
an urban trail system," Ric
Richardson said Saturday. "They want the trails
to reflect what the North Valley
is about."
Richardson, who along with his wife, Kate Hildebrand,
facilitated the workshop,
said many participants felt the ditches encompass
people's places of the heart,
scenic views and the culture, history and character
of the historic ditchbanks.
Some Rio Grande Boulevard Neighborhood Association
residents living adjacent
to the trail expressed opposition to any paving of
the ditchbanks or any changes
that would urbanize the ditchbanks such as trail
heads, parking lots or any
invasive or massive new bridge spanning Montaño
Road.
Becky Alter, Bernalillo County Open Space and Park
planner, said all of the ideas
stemming from the workshop will be put in a draft
and more community meetings
will be held to get input to finalize the plan.
"This is a continuing discussion and nothing
has been decided," Alter said. "The
project has fabulous potential to reinvigorate a
system that brings people into
nature."
The North Valley Demonstration Projects winds its
way along Los Poblanos Open
Space and the adjacent Rio Grande Community Farms.
The North Valley Demonstration Trail has received
about $850,000 in legislative
funding from state Sens. Dede Feldman and John Ryan,
who represent the North
Valley.
Some of the money will go toward
professional engineering and design of a
pedestrian crossing where the Griegos
Drain intersects Montaño Road. In addition,
some of the money will
go toward fixing a foot bridge near Alvarado Elementary
School and a foot bridge along the Griegos Drain,
south of Montaño.
Saturday was
a daylong open house session where people could meet one-on-one
with project planners and engineers.
Some of the elements discussed Saturday include:
- Trail surfacing materials that stabilize the soil,
such as pine tar, were the most
popular with participants. Asphalt paving was not
favored. One consideration is
that ditchbanks have to be used by the conservancy
district to maintain the drains
and laterals. Therefore, whatever surface is used
has to be able to withstand
heavy equipment.
- Emergency
access and not allowing any sort of motorized traffic such as all-
terrain vehicles.
- Using mile marker ballards similar to those on
the city's Bosque Trail. The
ballards post a mile marker number that people can
reference if they need
emergency help. Yasmine Nijimi, from the MRGCD, said
emergency vehicles
will be able to access the ditchbanks.
- Safety lighting
and maybe limiting the hours people are allowed on the
ditchbank trails.
- Engineering
issues such as road crossings at Montaño and Griegos roads and
different needs for equestrians, bicyclists and pedestrians.
Ideas for Montaño Road were either going over,
under or across the busy roadway.
Building a bridge over or under is more costly than
an at-grade crossing, engineers
from Gannett Flemming said.
Going under the roadway with a tunnel could create
some safety concerns. Putting
a crossing at-grade would require a policy decision
by the city.
North Valley resident David Chee suggested no crossing
be considered and people
detour to the west a short distance to use the already
constructed pedestrian and
bicycle underpass at Rio Grande Boulevard, then detour
back east to the drain.
The Griegos crossing could be at-grade.
- The
east side of the drain is preferred over the west side for the trail with
the
idea of possibly using both sides with access for
bicyclists on one side and
pedestrians and horses on the other.
- The type and location of trash receptacles, and
whether any should be used.
Nijimi said trash pickup ideas ranged from "pack
in, pack out" to locating trash
cans in areas where they discourage people from using
them as personal
Dumpsters.
- Particpants did not want any new parking areas
created.
- Signage along the trail should be subtle and blend
in with the character of the
site as it is today. Participants saw a need for
some type of signs but they should
be limited to regulatory, educational and informational
types. The signs should be
of materials natural to the ditches. One suggestion
was to use the old ditch turn
gates as signs.
- Ideas on proper etiquette for those using the trails
with dogs, bikes and horses.
The workshop was sponsored by the Ditches with Trails
Project and managed by
the Bernalillo County Parks and Recreation Department.
The project is a public and private effort to preserve the existing ditch
trail system
and to strengthen its recreational potential.
It is a collaboration of the MRGCD, the North Valley Coalition, the Vecinos
del
Bosque Neighborhood Association, the Rivers and Trails
Program of the National
Park Service, city of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County
and the village of Los Ranchos
de Albuquerque.
In May, Bernalillo County's valley ditch system was named one of a dozen "Most
Endangered Places" by the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance.
They were
described by the alliance as dating from the 18th and 19th centuries,
with drains
from the 1930s.