ABQjournal: County Paving the Way to Chaco
By Leslie Linthicum
Journal Staff Writer

Tucked into a massive transportation bill that cleared Congress last week and is headed to the president’s desk is $800,000 that will settle once and for all a popular New Mexico campfire debate:
Should the road to Chaco Canyon be paved or not?

The road money is set aside to put chip seal— a cheaper-than-asphalt paving option— on the 16 miles of dirt road that lead to Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
If you’ve ever visited the spectacular Anasazi ruins at Chaco Canyon, you know the road and probably either love it or hate it.
To many tourists, the tooth-loosening, suspension-killing, dust-raising washboard road is a perilous hurdle to enjoying an otherwise wonderful trip.
“Dirt road is terrible!” a recent visitor wrote in the park’s comment book.
To others, the same jolting journey is a rite of passage and badge of honor, the perfect way to approach the wild and remote homeland of an ancient people.
“Awe-inspiring,” another visitor wrote. “Don’t pave the road!”
“It goes right down the middle,” said Chaco’s chief of interpretation Russ Bodnar. “Fifty percent find it appalling and 50 percent think it’s part of the park’s charm.”
Come this fall, San Juan County road workers will begin taming County Road 7950, the first step toward making the road dirt-free.
The county will begin paving work on the first three miles of 7950 using state and county money. With federal funds on the way, the county will then begin to tackle the remaining 13 miles next year, according to San Juan County Public Works Administrator Dave Keck.
“If we get the green light from everybody,” Keck said, “we’ll begin to pave (the remaining stretch) next spring.”…
With only 80,000 visitors a year and 30,000 acres to roam— and the nearest motel more than 50 miles away— the park retains a sense of wildness that makes paving the road more than a simple public works project, Bodnar said.
“It is part of the whole mystique,” he said.