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I’ve lived just off Rio Grande Boulevard for almost 35 years and use both Candelaria Road and Indian School intersections almost daily.
Rio Grande traffic has increased yearly so much that sometimes it’s very difficult to merge out into the traffic because of so many speeding cars that like to change lanes for no apparent reason and disobey its 35-mph speed zone. I drive this speed limit always every time I travel on Rio Grande and every car passes me by. Every car!
It seems everyone but me believes it’s a 45- to 55-mph speed zone, and a police car is almost never seen observing our traffic.
About four years ago I saw a radar team working traffic on Rio Grande between Matthew and Indian School.
I stopped and commended the police officer and asked him why I didn’t see them more often enforcing the speed zones on Rio Grande. He told me some influential people from Thomas Village had complained to the (former) mayor who lived in Thomas Village at that time and the mayor then told the police chief to “ease up on the speeders on Rio Grande Boulevard.”
While I’ve never seen or read in my in 35 years of living in this same neighborhood, any kind of accident at Rio Grande and Candelaria, I have personally observed several at the Indian School intersection.
I do believe roundabouts would be the answer to our speeding problem on Rio Grande Boulevard in this area. It would be a vast improvement and certainly slow down the speeders, forcing them to use other arterials for their maniacal travels.
After using our new roundabout at Indian School and 12th Street, I’ve discovered I really like it. It seems to have changed the speeders’ routes.
So now you’ve convinced me, Mr. Traffic Engineer, you knew I’d love it, didn’t you? So go ahead, feel free to create for us a beautiful roundabout at Rio Grande Boulevard and Candelaria Road, and the sooner the better.
And while you’re at it, go ahead make us another one at Rio Grande and Indian School and another at San Mateo and Montgomery and – well, you get my message.
Let’s just create beautiful roundabouts at all our busy, dangerous intersections thereby forcing our “speed demons” to slow down, smell the flowers, and enjoy the wonderful sights of our city.
— This article appeared on page 23 of the Albuquerque Journal
