The debate goes on regarding the proposed paving of the north road into Chaco Canyon. Leslie Linthicum of the Abuquerque Journal continues to write good, informed articles about the road status, with two new articles posted during February. You can find them at the Protect Chaco Canyon Blog.
Leslie's February 15 article, titled, Pave or No? Chaco Road Fight Costly, is the first of two articles discussing the latest in the fight. She ends it wondering at the nearly $1 million price tag of the proposed paving, and why it is so important to some to pave this road in to Chaco.
I love how she begins the article:
CHACO CANYON — Stand here on a winter's day, and it's easy to ignore the emotional and seemingly unending debate over whether to pave the road that leads into the national park that holds the treasures of Chacoan culture.
It's quiet here. The high desert has put on its tan coat for the winter, and the pre-Puebloan ruins are able to find cover in the landscape. And besides you, there are only a couple of dozen other people in the entire park.
The journey here has taken you off velvety smooth U.S. 550 and onto CR7950, where the pavement ends and turns to dirt 13 miles from the park's entrance.
Whatever your reason for being here, you have now become part of the argument concerning improving this road with something called a chip seal, a technique that produces a smooth surface that looks and drives like pavement.
County officials and the state's Indian Affairs Committee are on the paving side of the argument. Environmental groups and Friends of Chaco and the Chaco Alliance are against paving but in favor of making the road safer with grading, gravel and maintenance.
And then she says:
If you haven't already noticed, the road that leads you here is a critical part of the Chaco experience. It forces you to slow you down and prepare yourself to visit one of the places in the world where ancient history reaches out and grabs you.
How true! The last 45 to 60 minutes on the road into Chaco allow me to truly Be Present in Chaco when I arrive — essential for the experience I seek, in the usually limited time I have.
Leslie's February 23 article (Why Not Gravel on Dirt Road to Chaco?) continues the discussion. She says it so well; here are some excerpts:
There are all sorts of possible compromises that are better [than paving]. Abandoning the chip seal paving idea for gravel and bar ditches would be the obvious one, combined with actually maintaining the road — something regular travelers on the road have found lacking.
When you stand here on a winter's day with the sun glinting off Fajada Butte, it's not hard to imagine the ancestors of today's Pueblo people farming, grinding, hunting, praying — building a bustling city from nothing. And it's not hard to imagine all that drying up and them moving away — leaving nothing but road ruts and the bones of buildings.
If there is a place in the national park system where it makes sense to limit visitors and continue to offer an experience that is natural and quiet and free from crowds, it is right here.
San Juan County can do that with a road grader and an end to its obsession with paving this road.
UpFront is a daily front-page opinion column. You can reach Leslie at 823-3914 or llinthicum@abqjournal.com. Read all of her columns at ABQJournal.com/upfront.
Leslie indicates that a county report even says that paving would increase driving speed and decrease safety along the road. And she talks about the tourism services in the surrounding area, like motels and restaurants, that would benefit from the increase in visitors. Seem to be some powerful interests at work here.
But the degradation of the Chaco visitor experience is not worth the exchange; not for those of us who love Chaco, and want to see it preserved for future generations.
Let's hope the efforts to preserve Chaco and the missteps by the county keep the road from being paved — ever.
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