Hundreds of North Valley Residents Pack Conference Room to Debate Roundabout

The two sides of the roughly 250 boisterous and opinionated Albuquerque residents who packed into a conference room Thursday evening to discuss a proposed North Valley roundabout couldn’t agree on much, except that they’re facing real safety issues and that traffic is a problem.

Whether those issues justify building a 100-foot-wide, $1.5 million roundabout at Rio Grande Boulevard and Candelaria was the subject of sometimes heated discussion during a three-hour public meeting at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. City officials and project engineers also went into detail about how the project will affect neighbors and drivers.

“You have the ability to have less potential severe accidents with a roundabout than (a traditional) intersection,” project engineer Albert Thomas told the residents. “The roundabout is safer for both the pedestrians and the vehicles.”

Thomas said drivers heading down Rio Grande travel at 45 mph on average, 10 mph above the speed limit. Installing a roundabout will slow them down, he said.

Residents who are against the roundabout are concerned that the project, paid for through a federal grant, is a waste of money and will clog a major traffic artery unnecessarily, and they said there are other ways of dealing with the traffic and safety concerns.

Those who support the roundabout shared stories of almost being hit by cars at the busy intersection and said the safety concerns justify the price tag.

Pick up a copy of tomorrow’s Albuquerque Journal to read the full story.