Karen,

Thank you for asking about the new road striping on Zuni.  I hope you’ll allow me to share a little more about why this was done and how it was designed.  Here is the project summary and announcement from my office last month: 

Dangerous Albuquerque Road to Get Major Facelift with Road Improvements

One of Albuquerque’s most dangerous roadways is getting a major facelift this week to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Zuni Road in Southeast Albuquerque is one of the city’s most heavily traveled urban roadways and the location of a disproportionate number of pedestrian casualties.  A 2011 study of traffic data found that the rate of pedestrian and bicycle accidents along the route were more than twice the area average.

“Just since I took office in December, news reports have chronicled at least four pedestrians being struck by vehicles on this short three-mile stretch of road, including one fatality,” says City Councilor Pat Davis whose office is funding the majority of the project. County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins’ office  has also committed funds towards the project. 

In 2011, City Councilor Rey Garduno began the planning and fundraising process to improve the road design to include the addition of a center turn lane, bicycle lanes and mid-block pedestrian crossings at locations most often associated with pedestrian/vehicle collisions.

Garduno provided the first round of funding necessary to secure matching federal funds for the project, but those funds are not anticipated to be available until 2018.

The tab for work this phase is $1.1 million, $900,000 of which for design and striping is funded by bond funds allocated by former Councilor Garduno and Councilor Davis. County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins supported this effort by providing matching county road funds to the project. Remaining funds for road sealing work come from city street maintenance funds.

“No one would design an urban roadway like this today,” says City Councilor Pat Davis who succeeded Garduno in representing the SE Albuquerque district.  “When I came to office I asked staff to reevaluate the project based on funds we already have available.  We found a way to utilize existing funding to complete roadway improvements that will make this stretch of roadway drastically safer now rather than wait to do these improvements along with the intersection improvements coming in 2018,” Davis added.

The roadway improvements will include new bicycle lanes, a center turn lane and improved pedestrian crossings at highly trafficked intersections.



The new design, conceived in 2011/2012 through a series of public meetings provides 1) dedicated traffic lanes for vehicles traveling East/West, 2) a dedicated turn lane to get slowing and turning vehicles out of thru traffic, allowing thru traffic to run without sudden interruptions, 3) dedicated bicycle lanes with buffers between cars and bicycles and 4) better and more pedestrian crosswalks.

The new design was on hold for more than three years as the City waited on Federal matching dollars to arrive. Since then at least 4 people have died on that 3 miles stretch of road. That delay was unacceptable to me.

When I came to office last year, I directed City Staff to reimagine the plan as two phases: using money we had now to restripe now for safety and better vehicle flow, and use federal money when it comes online (maybe in 2018) to do improvements at intersections and sidewalks.  That’s what we did this summer.

And – I also wanted this done before ART construction began so drivers were not forced to endure construction on both at the same time.  

I do appreciate your concerns about the change, but I’m sure you’ll find that the new configuration makes travel east/west smoother and lest fraught with accidents and unexpected challenges.


--
Pat Davis
Albuquerque City Councilor, District 6
505.768.3100 | patdavis@cabq.gov 


From: Neighbors_nobhill-nm <neighbors_nobhill-nm-bounces@mailman.swcp.com> on behalf of Karen Green via Neighbors_nobhill-nm <neighbors_nobhill-nm@mailman.swcp.com>
Reply-To: Karen Green <fgreen38@comcast.net>
Date: Saturday, July 16, 2016 at 11:30 AM
To: "neighbors_nobhill-nm@mailman.swcp.com" <neighbors_nobhill-nm@mailman.swcp.com>
Subject: [Neighbors] Zuni

I have driven down Zuni all the way to Louisiana (newly striped).  I have to admit, whoever made the decision to stripe this road with the new configuration, doesn’t use these streets.  And, for a bicyclist, this street now should rank #1 as the most dangerous to ride in ABQ.  What are these people thinking!

K Green