It's just a little road, easily mistaken for a new frontage road along Interstate 25. For developers and county planners, the new extension of Rabbit Road, set to open May 10, is the fruition of years of planning. For residents of new suburbs growing south of the city, opening of the road will finally let east meet west without crossing the interstate.

"It's a very important link to relieve traffic on Richards Avenue," county planning manager Judy McGowan said.

In a master plan for what is eventually to be a 750- to 1,000-home eco-friendly village east of Richard Avenue, Oshara Village LLC agreed to build a route, currently dubbed the Northeast Connector, joining internal streets of the new village to an existing artery that leads to South St. Francis Drive. Already looking like a finished road, the new route in recent days has proven irresistible to some drivers who have been driving around a fence at one end and barricades at the other.

It's not yet finished, Oshara spokeswoman Anna Hansen said.

There is still striping to be painted and other details to be worked out before a ribbon is cut in May to officially open the road. Hansen was concerned about hazards drivers pose by dodging the fence.

Even when the ribbon is cut, the road isn't altogether permanent.

The route from St. Francis Drive to Richards Avenue will remain, but the road will be realigned, Hansen said. County plans for the Santa Fe Community College District indicate an intersection of Rabbit Road and Dinosaur Trail north of the main entrance to Oshara, where drivers now emerge from village roads and from the yet-to-be-opened Rabbit Road extension. Oshara drawings show the road connecting both to village streets and to the Dinosaur Trail intersection.

Completion of the Dinosaur Trail intersection could be years away, depending largely on the housing market, Hansen said. Another developer owns the parcel where Rabbit Road is slated to eventually emerge onto Richards Avenue. With the slowdown in residential sales in Santa Fe, that development — and what is slated to be the first eastbound Richards Avenue intersection south of I-25 — could wait for years.

Also on hold indefinitely are plans for a southeast connector road from Oshara that could join a road across the railroad tracks into Arroyo Hondo.

McGowan said the Santa Fe Community College is by far the greatest attractor of through traffic to the area, but planning-and-funding strategies that got the Rabbit Road extension built won't work when there is no developer eager to build a new through road as part of a subdivision-approval process.

For their part, Oshara Village developers don't mind having a through street directing St. Francis traffic along what are intended as pedestrian-friendly streets of the new village. "That is a very desirable thing for commercial areas," said Oshara project manager Bob Garlow.

By McGowan's account, the Community College District was established in 2000 after county planners realized the city of Santa Fe wasn't becoming the center of high-density development in the area, as city planners had anticipated. City residents rejected plans for urban infill housing, and developers began building on large lots with little community infrastructure in rural areas outside the city. In the 1990s, county planners took stock of the sort of unplanned development emerging in rural areas of the south county and, in collaboration with Rancho Viejo developers, came up with a concept for high-density neighborhoods that would let people live and shop near their homes.

The district required high-density housing and commercial areas mingled with tracts of open space, especially along arroyos. New residential communities sprang up, but commercial areas followed more slowly, as did development of the road plan. That called for more connectivity among streets to avoid traffic bottlenecks, yet discouraged through traffic in residential areas.

Real-estate agent Tom Fitzgerald, who has marketed Oshara lots to area builders, said the impact of through traffic in residential neighborhoods will largely be moderated by street design. With narrower roads, sometimes curving and with buildings set close to the street, drivers tend to travel at slower speeds, according to traffic studies that guide development of "new urban" communities.

The Rabbit Road extension resulted from collaboration between developers and planners, according to Oshara and county spokespeople. The approach works, McGowan said, but leaves gaps when developers' individual efforts don't progress as quickly as the collective needs of growing communities.

"Where there are issues is when you need this connection and no developer is going to build over there for 10 or 15 years," McGowan said.

The necessary involvement of city, county, state, federal and private interests in transportation planning, she said, further complicate road planning.

Local traffic studies have consistently indicated a need for an interstate exchange at Richards Avenue, but county planners are awaiting a safety study — and funding — before they count on that exchange to relieve traffic on Richards Road.

Bicycle and pedestrian routes among new neighborhoods southeast of I-25 also still need to be planned, McGowan said. Although communitywide bike routes remain to be established, Hansen said the May 10 opening of Rabbit Road will feature a bike ride down the new road, emphasizing the growing importance of bicycling in local transportation plans.

Oshara plans call for the new Rabbit Road extension to be handed over to the county, which will be responsible for future mantainence.

Contact David Collins at 986-3064 or dcollins@sfnewmexican.com.