Bike Bridge Over I-25 Not ABQ’s First; Rest Stops Revisited

THAT I-25 PEDESTRIAN/BIKE BRIDGE ISN’T THE FIRST: So says a reader, who emails that there was once a pedestrian/bike bridge over Interstate 25 at Stadium, now known as César Chávez. That would mean the much-heralded new bridge going up between San Mateo and Jefferson is actually the second over I-25 in the city.

And the reader is right.

Phil Gallegos, who handles information for the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s District 3 office, says he does “not remember one, but our oldest maintenance supervisor does. It was removed due to age, lack of use and lack of any future trails being tied to it. Apparently it was removed sometime in the early 1990s … (and) when it was taken down it was unsafe and unused so the age was probably consistent with the building of the interstate in the 60s.”

CAN’T LET THE REST STOPS REST: After last week’s column on a reader making his kids wait 100 miles to use the rest room because of the sad state of state rest stops, the readers couldn’t hold it.

One emails “we are a family of four sons who drove Interstate 40 to California many times and many trips to Albuquerque. … We stop at the truck stops in Grants or Winslow; the casinos have very clean and safe stops for rest rooms and snack bar – and you don’t have to visit the slots to use the facilities! The easy on-and-off in Gallup at mile marker 22 is the El Rancho and the Uptown Plaza shopping center. We have never had anyone turn us down from using facilities with a family.”

And Paul Rockhold says in an email “I just have to sound off on this one. I have made this trip regularly since 1991 since I retired and worked at the Grand Canyon. I have prospected near Congress, Ariz., many winters and covered the Shot Show in Las Vegas several Januaries. (The writer) is typical of one of many people who expect GOVERNMENT to do everything for them. They need to learn to think for themselves! My wife and I have NEVER had a problem finding a rest room! Does (the original letter writer) realize that when government does it for us it takes twice as many people and several times the taxpayer funds?”

AND ABOUT SMALLER VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC SENSORS: After a recent column revealed Bernalillo County and Rio Rancho are using video detection at some of their traffic signals, readers have sounded off on troubles getting Albuquerque traffic signals, which rely on magnetic loops in the pavement, to detect their two-wheeled vehicles.

Jim Augeri emails that he drives the largest Harley-Davidson made, “an Ultra Classic Electra-Glide. Think of is as a Barca-Lounger on two wheels” and he can sit northbound on Louisiana at Gibson and watch the light cycle “not once, not twice, but three times. Not once do I, on this large Harley, ever get a light to proceed along my intended route, (though) I am in fact parked squarely over the center of the sensor.”

“In a final act of defiance, I make a right turn east up Gibson and after a couple hundred yards I hook a U-turn to get back onto Louisiana northbound. So if those traffic engineers are telling you these things work, they are selling you a load of hooey!”

TL writes “I drive a large motorcycle, not a scooter. There is plenty of metal. I have written to SeeClickFix (a problem-reporting feature at ABQjournal.com) three times that I cannot get a signal change at Monte Vista onto Lomas. Twice I have been told that the sensitivity had been increased to maximum. I am still waiting for a response on the third attempt at a solution.

“So, how can the sensitivity be increased to maximum twice? I feel like I’m getting the run around. I have only experienced two signals in the city where this happens. The other is at Menaul and Eubank. There has to be something more at work here that is not being addressed.”

And Russell Bell writes to clarify that “bicycle lanes don’t have traffic sensor strips. When motorists ask why those %$#@*& bicyclists are in ‘their’ lane: that’s the answer.”

SAN ANTONIO PAVING MADE MY COMMUTE: Karen Wayne says in an email that after a reader commented San Antonio was “too smooth” for repaving, she had to respond with “I don’t know what San Antonio street he drives on, but the one in Albuquerque definitely had a need for repaving!”

And she “would like to pass along giant KUDOS to the crews who ran (that repaving job on San Antonio from I-25 to Wyoming). … Not only did they keep traffic moving through difficult circumstances, they did a terrific job cleaning up gutters which contained leftover materials from the repave at the end of the project. Wanted to give them a giant “THANK YOU” as I drove past but decided that was probably not the best thing to do with cars whizzing by at 40-plus miles an hour!”

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 D1 of the Albuquerque Journal