Road LIFE Community Advisory Group

Contact:  ATRI

Established in 1999, the purpose of Road Lifecycle Innovative Financing Evaluation (Road LIFE) project is to provide an independent and technically rigorous evaluation of the return on investment resulting from the innovative approach used in the design, construction, and maintenance of the US 550 (formally NM 44) highway project. The 118-mile corridor construction was substantially complete in November 2001. US 550 is important to the communities and tribal nations along the corridor and to the State of New Mexico because of its vital connection to transportation in the northwestern quadrant of the state and its innovative practices.  NMDOT Research Bureau requested that the ATR Institute conduct a community-based research project for the US 550 in order to add a social and user impact evaluation to the technical and economic components of the Road LIFE project.

The Community Advisory process involves communities and Native American nations along the US 550 corridor. The research objectives for 2002 were to "listen to the customer," to maintain close relations with communities and travelers along US 550, and to assure that Road LIFE technical and economic analyses do not overlook issues deemed important by local communities and tribal nations.

This project demonstrated that communities and tribal nations have a vested interest and inherent knowledge of transportation needs within their boundaries. Comments from community residents have shifted from the corridor construction project to additional highway projects to improve the performance of US 550 as part of the local network of highways.