 The City Council does not meet in July, but that doesn’t mean we
haven’t been busy. When I first came to office, I asked our staff to take a new look at projects that had been requested by neighborhoods and were “shovel ready” or close to it. And we’ve spent the past six months funding, designing and sometimes reimagining them to put your tax dollars to use improving District 6's neighborhoods and streets. I want to share with you our progress so far:
Dangerous
Albuquerque Road to Get Major Facelift with Road
Improvements
 Almost 5 years
after the first community meetings to redesign one of Albuquerque’s
deadliest urban roadways, we were still 2-3 years away from delivering
on the improvements needed to prevent tragedies like the six
pedestrian and bicycle deaths along this roadway over the past few
years.I challenged our staff to find a new
approach to move the plan for the Zuni Road Safety & Traffic
Improvements and they did! By combining street funds set aside by
Councilor Garduno with new funds available to me and
a match from County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins,
Zuni road now has turn lanes, bicycle lanes, bicycle/traffic
buffer lanes and pedestrian crosswalks at our busiest pedestrian
crossing points, including where most students cross Zuni to access
Highland High School every day.
Now, east/west traffic can flow
unimpeded by sudden stopping vehicles, turning cars and wayward
pedestrians and bicycles making one of our most dangerous streets into
one of Albuquerque’s safest.
Future work will improve sidewalks
and intersections. Read
More
Silver Avenue Improvements through Nob Hill Silver Avenue was designated a Bicycle
Boulevard by the City Council in 2009 but the mix of two-way traffic,
frequent stops and street-side parking has made this a less than ideal
option for bicyclists.In May of 2015, former Councilor Rey
Garduño began a study and a series of public meetings that helped us
design a new bike boulevard that 1) adds parking for Nob Hill-area
businesses, 2) provides a real east/west throughway for bicycles and
3) makes improvements to arterial crossings, such as Girard and
Carlisle, to make them more navigable by less-experienced
cyclists.
Since taking office, I worked with
our staff and the City’s Municipal Development Department to
fast-track this project so that we can provide needed parking and a
safer environment for bicyclists and drivers alike.
The redesign is slated to begin in a
few weeks. You can see the new designs on the project page here.
COMING SOON: Girard Blvd. Improvements for Bicycle Lanes and Complete Streets At the request of abutting
neighborhoods and in light of new development and changing
transportation needs at the University of New Mexico, City Councilors
Isaac Benton and Rey Garduño sponsored a street improvement master
plan study of Girard Boulevard.Over the last year, I worked with
Councilors Isaac Benton, Council staff, the City’s Department of
Municipal Development and an engineering consulting firm to produce
detailed striping diagrams including bike lanes and “sharrow” markings
for the entire roadway and sidewalk improvements for the segment
between Central Ave. and Lomas Blvd. Implementation of the new
striping is expected to occur in late Spring of 2017.
We will hold a public open
house on Tuesday, August 9 from 5:30 to 7:30
p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of the First Congregational
Church, 2801 Lomas Blvd. (Northwest corner of Lomas and Girard) to
review these engineering drawings. Any interested party is encouraged
to attend.
You can learn more about the history
of this project by clicking here.”
The City Council will return with regular meetings beginning on August 1st. In the meantime, we’ve all been watching the situations unfolding in Minnesota, Baton Rouge and Dallas with a heavy heart. As a former police officer, I’ll be the first to say that we can – and should – be both pro-police and black lives, and all lives for that matter. I was traveling last week and found myself working alongside a city councilor from Dallas as the events there unfolded. The way his city responded gave me hope that Albuquerque can also come together to rise above our policing challenges. My op-ed in today’s Albuquerque Journal provides my perspective on our rising crime and our failure to address it for those of us who have been victims of crime in our city. I also offer a few suggestions we can implement to get us back on track. Read it here and send me your reactions.
- Pat |
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Patrick Davis for ABQ · 3926 Simms Ave SE, Albuquerque, NM
87108, United States
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