Tragedy Strikes Highway Project
Two Workers Killed on I-40 When RV Enters Median
An Interstate 40 project intended to save lives turned tragic Wednesday when a wayward recreational vehicle struck and killed two highway construction workers on the eastern outskirts of Gallup.
Five Valley Fence Co. workers were adding a six-mile “post-and-cable” barrier — aimed at preventing traffic from crossing into the median — at around 9:30 a.m. when a westbound RV veered into the median and struck three workers, according to the Valley Fence Co. owner Paul Chavez and State Police.
One worker, Johan Marioni, 20, was pronounced dead at the scene, and another, Hermelindo Autunez, 56, died about five hours later at
a Gallup hospital after being pinned between the RV and a company truck parked in the median, Chavez said.
The workers had begun installing the fence Monday, which Chavez said is designed to prevent swerving vehicles from entering the median.
“It’s kind of ironic. ... (The fence) is exactly for this type of operation,” Chavez said by telephone.
“It was devastating here for us,” he said. “We’ve never had a fatality before this. It was just a shock.”
A third worker, foreman Pedro Moreno, 36, was released from a Gallup hospital with broken ribs and other injuries after he was struck by the RV’s sideview mirror, Chavez said.
The RV’s driver, Lee McCray, 67, of Owensville, Ind., could have suffered a medical episode before the crash, police said, and he was taken to a Gallup hospital for tests. He did not suffer injuries from the crash.
Police said alcohol does not appear to be a factor.
Marioni’s father and brother, also Valley Fence Co. employees, were working on a different project in Chama when Marioni was killed, Chavez said.
Autunez worked for the company for 15 years, and Marioni started about two years ago.
Chavez described the 75-employee firm as a family business. He was headed to Gallup later Wednesday to be with the victims’ relatives.
The barrier was one of the final parts of a small state Department of Transportation project that included paving a stretch of I- 40 near mile marker 20 within Gallup city limits, said Melissa Dosher, NMDOT spokeswoman.
Dosher said transportation employees were just beginning to place traffic cones that would have closed the left westbound lane along the median, and employees had already closed off the eastbound inside lane and put up signs warning drivers of the construction zone.
State Police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the crash.
One lane in each direction of the interstate was closed for a short period after the accident.