The New Mexico Department of Transportation is preparing to widen and straighten one of the steepest, most scenic and dangerous stretches of the route known as the High Road to Taos.

Plans call for rebuilding 3.8 miles of N.M. 76 from Cordova to Truchas — a vertical rise of about 900 feet — beginning early next year.

Benny E. Martinez, an assistant engineer for the DOT's District 5 and the project's development engineer, said the work would involve widening the road's 11-foot driving lanes to 12-foot lanes and adding 4-foot paved shoulders along either side for 80 percent of the road section.

Only the part near the village of Truchas would remain without paved shoulders because there isn't enough right-of-way, Martinez said.

"At the top of Truchas, there's a lot of houses there," he said. "They have their own rock walls, their own fences. ... For us to put 4-foot lanes, that means we'd be tearing down their personal property, not to mention on the east side we also have a cemetery."

A morada and another historic structure on either side of N.M. 76 at the entrance to Truchas — where drivers must either turn sharply left to stay northbound on the main highway toward Peñasco or continue straight on Rio Arriba County Road 76 into the village of Truchas — prevent major changes at the intersection. But, he said, a left-turn lane will be added there.

The straightening of at least four sharp curves will require acquiring more right-of-way from the Truchas Land Grant Association, which owns property on both sides of the road, Martinez said. He said the local acequia association plans to rechannel its irrigation ditch so that it no longer crosses under the highway and back again near a pond.

A DOT accident survey shows that 12 crashes, none of them involving fatalities, occurred on the stretch of N.M. 76 between 2004 and 2007. Snowy conditions or drunken drivers are listed as the cause of 11 of the 12 crashes, with the other attributed to a driver running off the road in an open area — possibly to avoid an elk or other animal on the roadway, Martinez said.

No changes are anticipated in the speed limits along N.M. 76, which range from 35 to 45 mph.

The High Road to Taos is a 54-mile scenic route from Española east and north on N.M. 76 through Chimayó, Truchas, Ojo Sarco, Las Trampas and Chamisal, then right or east on N.M. 75 through Peñasco, Vadito and Placitas, then left on N.M. 3 to Ranchos de Taos. The Low Road to Taos is a shorter route following N.M. 64 along the Rio Grande to Pilar, then continuing through the mountains to Taos.

DOT officials met with locals in Truchas about the project last month. Martinez said he continues to meet with officials of the land-grant and acequia associations, but no more public hearings are planned.

Work on the $7 million project is expected to begin early next year and continue for more than a year. Martinez said the work will probably continue over two summers in order to avoid heavy snows in the mountainous terrain. The unincorporated village of Truchas (Spanish for trout) is at 8,400 feet in elevation while Truchas Peak nearby rises to more than 13,000 feet.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.