Rude Drivers Take Advantage of Rio Bravo Merge Lanes

CAN WE MOVE THE RIO BRAVO MERGE? Paulsilva46 emails that “the road work on Rio Bravo between Broadway and Interstate 25 has greatly improved the flow of traffic. However, I would like to comment on one change which I feel will inevitably cause serious injury, more likely multiple deaths.

“The intersection of Rio Bravo and Broadway has long been a potentially dangerous one, with some high-speed collisions taking place over the years,” the email continues. “Here is the situation as I see it. There are three lanes going west from I-25 toward the Broadway intersection, downhill. The right lane is a right-hand turn lane for northbound Broadway traffic.

“Now here’s the problem: The right lane continues through the intersection and merges with the center lane a few hundred feet west of the intersection. I have personally witnessed vehicles traveling at high speeds – 50 to 60 mph – in that right lane to pass the traffic in the other two lanes. It is a disaster waiting to happen. I would suggest that the traffic engineers merge traffic east of the intersection and make it a right-hand turn only.”

David Mitchell, director of Bernalillo County’s Operations and Maintenance Department, says he can “answer in general terms because the Rio Bravo job – and where I first read about this strategy at (westbound) Paseo del Norte and Jefferson – were New Mexico Department of Transportation/city joint projects.”

And when it comes to having the merge after a busy intersection, “generally, what they were doing is creating extra through lanes at the red lights as a congestion relief measure so that more traffic would bunch up at a red light, and then they could pass through more cars with the available green (signal) time.”

Mitchell says “all the standards highly recommend you merge to the left for lane drops, so that’s why these relief lanes are on the right. Yes, if this was a construction site, you’d merge them before the intersection, but it’s for another purpose. It sounds like during non rush-hour congestion conditions that some people are abusing the intent.”

On a positive, he says “this project at Broadway also got rid of some archaic right-turn yield islands for south-to-west drivers in favor of a nice merge taper,” meaning similar right-lane abusers may end up just with mashed fenders instead of the more serious injury causing T-bone crashes.

And the bottom line is “these are mid-term relief measures while waiting for the very big projects to begin. DOT is under design for I-25/Rio Bravo, which does include redesigning all the way down and re-constructing Rio Bravo and Broadway. Similarly for Jefferson with PDN/I-25.”

NO FLASHING YELLOWS IN BERNALILLO COUNTY: After Rio Rancho recently announced a phase-in of flashing yellow arrows for left-turn signals (you can turn on them but must yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians), I checked with Bernalillo County to see if it was going to do the same.

County sign and signal guru Robert Baker says he has concerns because the solid green arrow already allows left turns as oncoming traffic permits, and a flashing yellow might “cause confusion to drivers by thinking they have the right of way.”

MORE ON THE BIKE SIGNS: After last week’s column on sharing the road with bicyclists, local attorney Diane Albert, who was quoted, has a few quick updates.

First, she’s a member of BikeABQ but not a board member. She was citing the NMSA (New Mexico Statutes Annotated) on the laws about passing on the right. And the yellow, diamond-shaped bicycle signs that tell drivers to watch for unexpected entries from cyclists are the standard ones on poles, unlike the new bike boxes, which are markings placed on the pavement (like at Washington and Indian School) to help facilitate safe movement through an intersection.

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.
— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal