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Opinion

Mayor Jumps the Gun
On Restriping Montaño
A court order is slowing down the drive by Mayor Martin Chávez and Councilor Michael Cadigan to restripe portions of Montaño NW.
But the delay won't slow down commuters all that much. That's because the intersections at Fourth and Second street can't yet handle heavy drive-time flows.
Restriping the approaches to the bridge as four-lane roadways and pushing for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' permission to restripe the bridge itself, mostly moves the traffic bottleneck.
Four specific projects affecting traffic on Montaño should be in play before the bridge is widened to four lanes: reconstruction of Golf Course Road; rebuilding of the I-40/Coors interchange; improvements to the Montaño/Fourth Street intersection; and rebuilding the Montaño/Second Street intersection.
They are moving ahead. Golf Course Road is close to completion. Construction on the $91 million I-40/Coors interchange, which will take 18 months to complete, has just begun.
Bond funding for the Montaño/Fourth Street reconstruction project wasn't approved until last month, and the yearlong Montaño/Second Street project isn't slated to begin construction until next summer -- if federal funding comes through.
Restriping the approaches to the bridge months before the intersection projects are under way won't relieve North Valley traffic congestion.
New paint on Montaño west of Fourth Street won't have nearly as much effect on traffic as new asphalt on re-engineered intersections at Fourth NW and at Second NW.