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CAN WE GET A PATCH ALONG THE PASEO BIKE PATH? That question comes from Adolphe, who says a section at the northeast corner of Edith and El Pueblo was ripped up during a recent paving job and not repaired, leaving a jarring and potentially dangerous hazard for bicyclists.
The answer about a fix is a definitive yes, but getting to the bottom of it took some digging.
There are in fact two projects at that site. The one along Paseo del Norte is a New Mexico Department of Transportation Intelligent Transportation System project; the one along El Pueblo, for temporary parking east of Edith, is a Bernalillo County project.
Nolan Bennett, manager of the county’s construction and engineering division, explains that as with any multi-jurisdictional/multi-modal projects, there have been “lots of contractors/issues at this intersection, but it was problems with the NMDOT ITS project that disrupted the trail. Our project did not touch the bike trail, but we have heard a lot about the issue and have been following up on the problem.”
He says “there were two trail disruptions with the NMDOT ITS project. Their contractor hit, I assume, an unmarked water line that took out a section of pavement, which the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority recently repaired. However, there was another cut, and according to the NMDOT their contractor, Del Rio, will be out this week to fix the problem.”
WHAT’S THE LATEST WITH THE POLES ON SECOND AT EL PUEBLO? That comes from Bob Keers, who asks in an e-mail, “what have ‘they’ done now? Beautiful new paving all around, then barriers so drivers southbound on Second can’t turn right onto El Pueblo and eastbound Paseo can’t turn left to the rail depot on El Pueblo.”
The barriers were originally installed, and then added to, to keep drivers from cutting across multiple lanes of busy rush-hour traffic to make unsafe left turns.
Phil Gallegos, spokesman for NMDOT’s District 3 office, says “the paving was done by the county, and during that time we removed the original pole barriers. Upon completion of the paving, we re-installed the barriers where they were before. The conditions are as they were before.”
CAN WE GET A ROUNDABOUT ON CORRALES ROAD? That question comes from a reader who says the twin problems of speeders and backups plague the intersection with Meadowlark.
Gallegos says “this issue has come up before and has met with some resistance due to the right of way necessary to build the roundabout. There are no plans to pursue this option at this time.”
MORE ON THE WAIT AT ISLETA AND RIO BRAVO: And there’s a little more to that 18 seconds of green time on the through signals on Isleta at Rio Bravo.
David Mitchell, director of operations and maintenance for the county, says the way the signal and its detectors are set up, “what it really means is that if (a driver) is not detected within 2.5 seconds behind the last car in line that went south through the intersection, the light will change, and (southbound drivers will) have to wait another 112 seconds until (the) next 18-second opportunity.”
And he has a personal example of how it works: “It happened to me at a state signal this morning. Usually I get caught and it looks like the green light is really short, but it has a detection camera, and there was a longer line of cars than usual, so it stayed green longer, and I wound up close enough behind the last car that it stayed green for me, too. All of that is programmed to a point. Eventually, you have to set a maximum time for any of the intersection legs.”
Meanwhile, county signal guru Robert Baker says he “watched about 10 cycles (May 12) and the southbound movement cleared every single cycle. I added about 4 more seconds of the cycle length to the southbound movement (May 11).”
But that 4 seconds had to come from somewhere. Baker says he “had to ‘steal’ this 4 seconds from Rio Bravo.”
And that’s something he would not have known was needed if drivers hadn’t provided a heads-up. “I do appreciate input from the public because sometimes there are problems that we might not otherwise know about.”
LOS PADILLAS CLOSED: Water line work is nearing an end on Los Padillas.
According to a Bernalillo County news release, the closure at the Arenal Canal and Placitas Lateral has been to “place waterlines under the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District canal and lateral that cross Los Padillas Road.”
“Residents who live in the area can drive on Los Padillas Road up to each side of the construction site. Through traffic will be detoured from Isleta Boulevard, to Norment Road, to Jensen Drive. During the work, through traffic is advised to seek alternate routes.”
And it is scheduled to wrap up today.
Assistant editorial page editor D’Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays and West Siders and Rio Ranchoans on Thursdays. Reach her at 823-3858; road@abqjournal.com; P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation.
