$1M Upgrade Set for Fourth St.

FOURTH STREET UPGRADES IN WORKS: Sandy Mann asks via email “if there are any plans to upgrade and modernize Fourth Street?”

Sandy says “this thoroughfare is extremely busy, with all-sized trucks and cars and everything in between. It has commercial properties the entire length, from Downtown to Alameda. Yet the only left-turn bays are at major intersections, and the majority of the road doesn’t even have a middle lane for turns.”

By comparison, “Second Street has had a full makeover but it doesn’t even have the same amount of commercial traffic as Fourth. Any upgrades in sight?”

More than $1 million worth.

David Mitchell, director of Bernalillo County’s Operations and Maintenance Department, says the village of Los Ranchos has a big project in the works.

“The general idea is to do a ‘road diet’ for Fourth similar to what was done north of Alameda Boulevard in the ’90s and get rid of the non-median four-lane road in favor of a three-laner with bike shoulders and a center turn lane and bays,” he says.

As for the volume of traffic, Mitchell says “the Mid-Region Council of Governments maps have not shown any increase in traffic on Fourth since ’03 — which is just because that’s as far as my maps go. It’s a stable arterial. Since the flow has never increased to utilize all four lanes, and most congestion on roads happens because of turning at intersections and driveways, why not make those movements into and out of the adjoining businesses, properties and cross streets safer and keep the through lanes moving without impediment?”

For the county’s part, it has “offered to match the final lane plan that the village builds for the unincorporated piece between the village limits and Alameda Boulevard. Since the county part had been resurfaced within the past 10 years, our part is to grind off all the striping, fog seal and re-stripe for about $50,000.”

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, NM 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation.