Photo Brax -Valley Publishing Police and EMS on the scene. |
Photo Brax -Valley Publishing |
Curve on Artcraft Claims Another.
On the night of January 30, 2005 another traffic fatality was recorded. Eugenio Campa, 22, died after sustaining severe bodily injury in a one vehicle accident on Artcraft Road. Campa was driving a 2004 Suzuki motorcycle east on Artcraft. It is not clear if he had a green light at the Westside Road intersection or if he accelerated quickly from a standing stop.
As we reported in November and again in January, Joel Pando, died of injury at the scene when his late model vehicle left the right-hand land in the east bound lanes and strayed onto the shoulder. Apparently, Pando made an sudden vehiclular correction and lost control. The vehicle then rolled over several times before resting in the median drain channel.
Story and Accident Photos
The night after Campa's fatal accident the east bound lanes of Artcraft were closed to traffic that Monday night due to another accident at the same area of Artcraft as the previous two. The story was repeated again the following Friday night with another accident at the curve.
There are no lights to illuminate the curve and due to the elevation of the road the traffic lights at Upper Valley Road are not visible. Additionally, there are no traffic signs nor any warnings before the curve indicating that the curve exists. The danger may be that it seems that the road should be straight since in begins to straighten out at the Texas-New Mexico boundary. It remains straight heading east as one passes through the Westside Road intersection. Then the road elevates and all one can see is darkness. This is especially true if traveling at 60 mph and faster.
Some residents questioned the inclusion of this curve in Artcraft during the design stage of the highway. Members of the Upper Valley Alliance protested the diversion of the route further north from the intersection of Artcraft and Westside Road. This movement north moved the highway closer to Damian Elementary School in the Canutillo Independent School District. In addition, the inclusion of the curve was questioned at that time as a safety factor. Because of the curve north, there has to be a corresponding curve south thus making both directions of traffic more dangerous; especially for the large semi-trailer trucks that frequent Artcraft with dangerous cargos.
The left-hand curve was included in the design of Artcraft in an attempt to please land owners into accepting the highway’s intrusion into the Upper Valley farmland. Instead of one continuous strip of farmland greenbelt that stretched from the Rio Grande all the way to the desert in the West; the land was forever destroyed as part of the Upper Valley by the highway. Artcraft became a source of noise and air pollution to the residents in the area and changed land use of the whole area forever.
One of the land interests was the newly approved subdivision, Laguna Meadows. This gated community of high-end luxury homes was opposed by members of the Upper Valley Alliance at the time and remained almost empty for ten (10) years after approval. It gained approval under dubious circumstances. It appears that Artcraft was moved further north to avoid running along the northern border of Laguna Meadows.
Artcraft has claimed other lives in the past. In 2001, ex-County Judge of El Paso, Pat O'Roarke was hit while riding his bicycle east on Artcraft suffering fatal injury. The driver of the vehicle was not sited due to the morning sun blinding his view.
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Editor, Upper Valley Beacon
Copyright 2004 Valley Publishing Company
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