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BOSQUE TRAIL GETTING COUNTY UPGRADE: The public can weigh in tonight on Bernalillo County’s plans to rehab the 15-year-old trail between Tingley Drive and the South Diversion Channel.
The meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. at the Mountain View Community Center, 201 Prosperity SE. According to a news release, “Public Works staff will provide details about the project and the proposed construction schedule. The public meeting will give residents an opportunity to share their comments about the project.”
The $1 million project is using 15 percent local bond money and 85 percent federal funding. Work will “eliminate the numerous bumps and cracks throughout this stretch of the trail. While protecting trees along the Bosque Trail, minor realignment and drainage improvements will also be included.”
In the news release Commission Chair Art De La Cruz points out “bicyclists, pedestrians and community residents use and enjoy this trail in the South Valley. While many people are aware of the proposed improvements, we need to get the word out to as many people as we can.”
For more information, contact project engineer Jeanne Wolfenbarger at 848-1567 or go to bernco.gov/projects.
MORE ON THAT HIGH RESORT TRUCK BAN: Last week Rio Rancho city councilors banned commercial trucks weighing more than 5 tons from using High Resort between N.M. 528 and Broadmoor. Resolution No. 41 makes it clear the goal is to reduce/limit heavy vehicle cut-through traffic. It reads in part that that section of road passes “through primarily residential areas” and “heavy trucks passing nearby create an unpleasant pedestrian and living environment.”
So councilors have directed Public Works to install regulatory signs banning the trucks, save for “local deliveries, garbage collection, school bus and transit services and emergency vehicles.” Those are allowed.
Once the signs are up, police will be authorized to cite violators. Tickets will run $50 for the fine and $44 for the court fee for violating Section 12-12 of the Uniform Traffic Code, failure to obey an authorized traffic control device.
LEAVE THE COORS DIVIDERS ALONE: Cyrus Toll called to weigh in again on the ongoing debate of to extend or not to extend the lane delineators on southbound Coors at Iliff.
Cyrus is still strongly in the do-not-extend camp.
Last month a reader pointed out that “vehicles are still exiting (Interstate 40) and crossing over three lanes of southbound traffic just so they can turn left/east on Iliff, causing (other) vehicles to honk their horns or flash their lights.” The New Mexico Department of Transportation’s District 3 Office said it would “look at the ‘weave criteria’ associated with this location, and, if justified, extend the post dividers further north to inhibit the three-lane movement.”
Cyrus says if you just look at Coors traffic, extending the white posts that keep drivers from turning left makes sense. But look into the neighborhood that would be affected, and suddenly traffic is pushed off arterial Iliff and onto residential Hanover, where there’s a school, ballfields and no room to pass when vehicles park on the street.
“It’s a really bad idea,” he says of adding delineators.
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, N.M. 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation.
— This article appeared on page 1 of the West Side Journal
