The Mesilla Valley MPO Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee deadlocked on a recommendation to adopt the stateproposed 2026 safety performance measures, resulting in a failed motion on a 4-4 roll-call vote.

Katarina Probingi, who presented the NMDOT draft targets, told the committee that "the safety performance measures must be adopted annually" under federal rules and explained a recent FHWA waiver that allows HSIP and the state's Highway Safety Plan to set different common measures for 2026. She detailed NMDOT's numeric targets for calendar year 2026: total fatalities 445; serious injuries 1,010; fatality rate 1.644 per 100,000,000 VMT; serious-injury rate 3.8 per 100,000,000 VMT; and non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries 200.

Committee members raised concerns about the methodology and direction of the targets. "There needs to be a discussion with the state to figure out...what that target might be and how we're going to get there also," said Andrew Bencomo, calling for a middle ground between Vision Zero ambitions and the state's trend-based projections. Several members noted that Vision Zero-style goals and the federally required, trend-driven targets send mixed messages to the public.

A motion to recommend that the governing board adopt the state's 2026 safety targets was moved and seconded and then decided by roll call. Votes recorded were four in favor (including Aubrey Casillas and Andrew Guerra) and four opposed (including Jim Wilcox, Ashley Curry, Andrew Bencomo and Longino Bustillos), producing a tie. Staff then confirmed the count and declared the motion failed. "It's a tie. It fails," said Jeremy Barela as staff corrected the tally.

After the failure, members discussed whether to propose an alternative numeric recommendation; several said time constraints make short-term negotiation with the state difficult. MPO staff invited BPAC members and the public to attend the governing board meeting on Dec. 10 at 1 p.m. in City Council Chambers, where the board will receive the item and public comment will be allowed.

The committeediscussion focused on reconciling federal reporting requirements and local aspirations for reducing pedestrian and bicyclist deaths. Staff and members said the technical target-setting process (forecasting using historical crash and VMT data) is separate from planning and implementation work needed to drive down fatalities and serious injuries.