Blinding Electronic Billboard On Paseo Measures Within Limits

ABQ Ride has combined its No. 3 and 157 routes to eliminate duplication and increase service to West Side riders. It means three under-used stops on Louisiana between Montgomery and Osuna have been removed. (JIM THOMPSON/JOURNAL)

HOW BRIGHT IS TOO BRIGHT ON A BILLBOARD? Last month, L. Thornburg emailed that “going east on Paseo del Norte, about where the railroad crosses by General Mills, there is one of those electronic billboards that can display a number of ads in sequence — and it’s HUGE. I hadn’t been down that way in the dark in a while but was going that way early Saturday morning and was nearly blinded by the sign.

“One of the ads had mostly white space, and it had the effect of an extra-bright flashlight directly in the eyes. For a moment I actually could NOT see. I have seen these signs before — smaller, and still annoying — and thought they should NOT be on major roadways and highways due to the fact that, at best, they are a distraction. At worst they could cause a fatal accident. This can’t be legal? If so it shouldn’t be.”

And Don asked the city “who do I need to get in touch with to voice my concern about the excessively bright sign on Paseo del Norte? Its placement by the railroad tracks is distracting and blinding. If this is not taken care of or dealt with how are we to ensure that other signs that are equally distracting will not be placed all along New Mexico’s roads? Flashing signs and excessively bright signs have no reason to be placed by any road.”

The signs are legal — at a certain brightness. The city received several complaints about this screaming bright white sign, according to Deborah Nason, public information officer for the city’s Planning Department.

Code compliance manager Brennon Williams followed up on the concern and reports “we met with the sign owner on Nov. 8 to address our concerns regarding the brightness of the sign. The inspector tells me that the Frost Mortgage background was changed from white to blue. Measurements of the sign’s luminance were found to be in compliance with the limitations outlined in the code.”

SUNPORT LOT CLOSED AFTER HOLIDAYS: The long-term parking lot at the Albuquerque International Sunport will be closed, starting Wednesday, to clear out the lot in time for construction Jan. 14.

The five-month, $5 million project “will include repaving of the entire lot and the addition of solar panels that will also serve as shade canopies,” according to a news release from the Sunport. “The scheduled construction time frame is traditionally the slowest for travel, in between the holidays and summer travel season.”

A $3.3 million FAA grant will fund the solar portion of the work.

Travelers who need to leave a vehicle at the Sunport long-term can get the same daily parking rate at the long-term credit/debit card lot, which is off Girard just east of the terminal. Know that this lot only takes credit or debit cards and does not have an attendant — but you can use a call button to speak with an attendant about exceptions or problems.

THREE BUS STOPS GONE ON LOUISIANA: The city of Albuquerque’s ABQ Ride has combined Routes No. 3 and 157 to eliminate duplication and increase service to West Side riders, according to public information officer Rick De Reyes.

“With ridership ever-growing on the West Side, we wanted to provide more timely service to that area, and the way to do that was to combine the routes,” he says. It means “twice as frequent service across the Montaño Bridge to the West Side and (No. 157 will) become one of the highest-frequency routes on the West Side.”

Route No. 157 serves Golf Course, Montaño and Montgomery. It will now also run on Sundays.

As part of the change, three stops have been eliminated on Louisiana north of Montgomery. The city says those were “underutilized.”

DeReyes says the change “was also in preparation for the No. 157 being able to pick up Rail Runner passengers and connect them to other routes once the new Montaño Intermodal Station is operational, perhaps by 2014.”

RAPID RIDE NO. 766 CHANGES, TOO: Another change adjusts a route through Uptown in advance of the new Super Target.

“The new route will have the No. 766 (aka the Rapid Ride Red Line) going north out of the Uptown Transit Center, turning right on Louisiana, then left/eastbound onto Indian School NE,” a news release says. “The route will then turn right onto Uptown Loop to link up again with southbound Louisiana.”

It’s all in preparation for “the new Rapid Ride stop planned for the new Target store near Winrock Mall,” which is expected to open at the end of January.

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 A4 of the Albuquerque Journal