Work in Progress at Paseo/Second Street

NORTH SECOND STREET NEEDS WORK: Rebecca Steele emails a request for “information on the condition of north Second Street. Second Street is surely one of the main north/south arteries of the city, yet the north section of it, from Osuna to Alameda, is badly in need of re-surfacing and striping.”

She says “the area of the Paseo exit/entrance was recently smoothed out, but nothing else. Bright striping is extremely important for safe driving at night and in bad weather. Is this section the responsibility of the city or the county?”

Bernalillo County — since February 2011. David Mitchell, director of the county’s Operations and Maintenance Department, says “the county has Second Street from the diversion channel bridge to the north all the way south of Osuna to where the city picks it up just south of Vineyard Road, then again all of Second Street south of the city limits near Woodward Ave. on the south side of town.”

And the county has done some other work on north Second in recent months, with more planned.

There’s “the nice approach paving and storm drain inlet reconstruction done six months ago for Second leading north into Alameda Boulevard,” he says. “We have taken care of the really worn parts at the intersections mentioned; the rest of the running surface was fairly well cared for by the New Mexico Department of Transportation and is thoroughly crack sealed. Our near-term plan is to either re-stripe with regular highway paint, or apply a broad black seal and apply longer-life thermoplastic stripes in probably a slightly modified configuration, meaning wider shoulders and more dedicated turn bays instead of a ‘suicide lane’ all the way up.” In addition, “there are a couple isolated spots that will need some patching either way.”

TRAIL CAMERAS TOO INVASIVE: A recent column revealed the county is recording cyclists at various trail monitoring stations to show usage. Marc Scudamore emails there has to be a better way.

“I applaud the gathering of usage statistics on the recreational trails,” he says, “but in this age of ever-shrinking privacy, the county would be better served if it gathered anonymous usage data. I believe most people feel the same way (a reader who says he avoids the cameras) does. The less surveillance of private citizens by the government, the better.

“There’s plenty of ways that the county can record usage data without snapping pictures of people out for a bike ride.”

PEDESTRIANS MAKE PARKING LOT A NIGHTMARE: That’s what Georgia called to report about the Walmart lot at Coors and Interstate 40.

She says it’s “a disaster. People walk in the driving lanes, walk right smack out in front of your car.”

“The pedestrians are out of control.” And they don’t stand a chance against a car, much less an SUV.

It’s a reminder that especially in this busy shopping season, everyone needs to share not only the road, but the parking lots, so there’s a safe holiday season for all.

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 13 of the Albuquerque Journal