The Road
NM 159, aka Bursum Road, is a state road running from Hwy 180 West to Mogollon for 9 miles, into the Gila National Forest, and on into the Gila Wilderness. It is a two-lane paved road for the first 4 miles up a bendy road from San Francisco Valley and across Whitewater Mesa. At mm 4 the road becomes a single lane with a chip seal surface as it climbs up mountains for five miles and then down into Mogollon. There are stunning views across mountains and mesas along the way. Passing by a white clock face painted on the left rock wall reading 4pm, the time at which the Fanny Hill mill and mine closed in 1942, you are there. Mogollon is a Historic District listed on the Federal Register and is a vibrant community of 14 residents.
The Threats
Silver47 runs overweight and oversize vehicles on a single-lane, unfenced, mountain road with steep mountain sides and steep drop-offs. Multiple water trucks and pickup trucks, some hauling loaded trailers, travel the road in both directions as day and night shifts are worked. Threats range from risky inconveniences of getting to and from work to transporting small grandchildren. Threats have happened such as near collisions on blind corners to flat-out dangers when Silver47’s driver with 30 years of experience managed to get a tractor-trailer stuck on a bend and blocked the road for two hours. Fire and other Emergency vehicles would not have been able to get to or from Mogollon had there been an emergency. Also, the two EMS personnel that work near Mogollon would not have been able to respond to a medical emergency in Glenwood or elsewhere in Southern Catron County.
In wet weather, Silver47’s vehicles’ use of Catron County’s Fannie Road in Graveyard Gulch turned the road into muddy ruts deeper than the 6 inches permitted by New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division (NM MMD). After complaints, a local company was hired to repair part of the road. This allowed the Mogollon fire truck to exit the Fire House on Fannie Road to reach NM159 in case of emergency. In winter months visitors and relatives need to use a 4×4 low-range high-clearance vehicle to drive the rest of the road up to the historic Cemetery.
NM159 is posted “weight limit 7 tons” i.e. 14,000 lbs. The 4000-gallon water trucks being used are 64,000 pound weight class 8 tandem. The NM 159 road surface is now in worsening condition with potholes, cracks and underpinnings falling away.
Safety
Mogollon Concerned Citizens (MCC) have been working with NM DoT District 1 in an effort to make NM159 safe for all travelers: residents, workers, service vehicles, outfitters, ranchers, tourists, photographers, diners, shoppers, hunters, birders and the many other visitors to Mogollon and The Gila.
NM DoT has stated that the road signs limiting weight limit (7 tons) and trailer length (17 feet) are out of date since the 2013 flood damage was repaired. Therefore they are not enforced by NM Department of Public Safety (DPS). NM DoT‘s State Traffic Engineer is working on an engineering analysis of NM159 to set enforceable limits on weight and length of vehicles that can safely travel on the road. Meanwhile, NM DoT has set a recommended limit of 30 feet length but no weight limit.
For the safety of all travelers MCC has recommended, and NM DoT has required, that water trucks and long trailers be escorted by pickup trucks with flashing lights, but they have no placard indicating that they are pilot vehicles. If unsuspecting road users do not find somewhere to pull over when warned by a pilot car, they are liable to meet an oversize and overweight vehicle head-on with nowhere to pull over and must back up if they are able to until they can find a space to pull over.