Southern Gets the Most ‘Green Time’

WAITING TO TURN LEFT AT WESTERN HILLS: T. Clay mails “I live in the Western Hills area in Rio Rancho. I was wondering if there are any plans to install a left-turn signal at Western Hills and Southern in Rio Rancho? Ever since the Cabezon subdivision has been added, at certain times it takes up to two or three lights to turn left onto Southern. It is an accident waiting to happen when impatient drivers sometimes keep trying to turn after the red light has turned.”

Peter Wells, Rio Rancho’s communications officer, says “a traffic count was done last spring. At that time, there was a brief period during the evening peak hour where a few left-turning vehicles were not served on the first green they saw and had to wait through a cycle.”

And that’s not enough to make an adjustment that would back up traffic on Southern, a major arterial designed to move traffic.

“Priority has to be given to Southern Boulevard,” Wells explains. “And introducing a left-turn arrow results in less green time for Southern traffic.”

That said, “the Public Works Department Traffic Section is in the process of doing a comprehensive signal re-timing project for the whole city. The delay at this intersection will be re-evaluated to verify if it has become unacceptable.”

STILL TRYING TO TURN LEFT FROM MEADOWLARK: M. Blake has more to say about the signal at “N.M. 528 and Sara/Southern.” And it isn’t good.

“This is a very busy intersection, one of the busiest in Rio Rancho! There are two problems: First, there is one left-turn lane from Sara for traffic to go south on 528, but no right-turn lane north! Both remaining lanes funnel traffic west onto Southern, blocking those who want to turn north. Cars coming out of Smith’s very busy parking lot can’t turn left, because the lanes are blocked by those trying to get to a lane to turn right/north onto 528.

“Do we have to wait for several wrecks/deaths before this bottleneck is corrected? I can’t believe that it takes an act of Congress or some other political group to repaint/stripe the right lane to a turn lane! How do we get the powers to be to get this done? Do we have to wait months/years for a study?”

First things first. Wells points out we are likely talking about N.M. 528 and Meadowlark/Southern, since that is where the Smith’s is. (Sara is south on 528.)

Wells says the planned traffic counts last fall — the “study” M. refers to — “have been completed. Re-analysis of the intersection is taking place as part of a comprehensive signal re-timing project for the whole city.”

And those traffic counts are key to determining how the intersection is striped and timed.

Wells said last year that “the most recent traffic data for this intersection that has been reviewed by the city’s traffic engineers indicates the current configuration is correct. Data shows that if the current lane configuration were changed so as to have only one left-turn lane, two straight through lanes and one right-only lane, the westbound through traffic would back up past the entry to the right-turn only lane. Furthermore, the existing dual left-turn lanes allow for a shorter left-turn arrow, which allows the traffic signal to be green longer for the heavy eastbound through traffic.”

If the new traffic counts show a dedicated right-turn lane is warranted, Wells has said it will “require right-of-way acquisition, design and construction work, and would be subject to available funding.”

I-40 WEST GETS MORE LANDSCAPING: The state Department of Transportation and the city of Albuquerque are landscaping the stretch of Interstate 40 from Coors to Unser.

According to a news release, “the mile long, 13-acre project will continue the theme of interstate landscaping that has become a signature in Albuquerque.”

The project extends the I-40 landscaping, which runs from Juan Tabo east to the Coors/I-40 interchange, and will include “more than 250 trees and hundreds of native xeric plants will be planted.”

The $1.9 million project, paid for with federal money and general obligation bonds, is scheduled to be finished this summer.

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.