Los Alamos Council orders review of four-way stop at deadly intersection

A deadly crash at North Road and Urban Street has pushed Los Alamos County into a fast-moving review of whether the intersection should become a four-way stop, a change residents say could slow traffic where children walk to Mountain Elementary School and nearby neighbors cross every day.

The County Council voted 7-0 on April 7 to direct staff, and possibly the Transportation Board, to study the idea and return a recommendation within 90 days. The action came after a citizen petition, fueled by the March 14 collision that killed retired Los Alamos Public Schools teacher Brian Easton while he was crossing the intersection.

Police said the crash happened around 11 a.m. on March 15, when a truck making a left turn from North Road onto Urban Street struck a 68-year-old pedestrian. Easton was taken to Los Alamos Medical Center and later transferred to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque in critical condition. An obituary later identified him as a longtime Los Alamos resident and educator who died March 17 at age 68.

What gave the petition immediate weight was who brought it forward: Girl Scouts from the Pajarito Service Unit used the public comment process to press the county to act. One Girl Scout pointed to the hill, the nearby school and vehicle speed as reasons a stop sign would help protect children walking home. An adult resident told council she had lived two and a half blocks from the intersection for 10 years and had repeatedly experienced dangerous situations there as a pedestrian, bicyclist and driver.

If county staff recommend the change, the intersection would no longer favor traffic on one route. Drivers on North Road and Urban Street would have to stop in all directions, which could create safer gaps for people crossing and force slower turns through a corridor used by school families and neighborhood traffic. It could also shift some traffic patterns in the area, especially during drop-off and pickup times near Mountain Elementary School.

Any change would still need to fit county engineering standards and federal traffic-control rules. Los Alamos County’s Transportation Board advises council on traffic conditions and transportation improvements, and the county’s eComment system, launched in August 2024, has made it easier for residents, including students, to place concerns directly before elected officials. The review now turns a neighborhood safety complaint into a policy decision with implications for daily travel, school access and pedestrian protection on one of the town’s most sensitive routes.