Albuquerque unveils new traffic signal at crossing weeks after young cyclist's death

After cyclist Kayla VanLandingham was fatally struck by a car on Carlisle NE near Montgomery, the city of Albuquerque said the crossing the 19-year-old used was in need of safety upgrades, but there was no funding and no timeline for the work.

A city spokesperson said on Aug. 1 that the specific crossing was not the highest priority, however, and current efforts “are focused on Tier 1 corridors.”

On Thursday, the city held a news conference to announce that, within two months, a push-button signal and crosswalk will be installed at the Hahn Arroyo path crossing where the teen was killed July 22.

Currently, the crossing has yellow flashing lights and pedestrian/cyclist crossing signs fixed to a pole — a signal that doesn’t require drivers to yield by law.

Mayor Tim Keller said the fix had been needed for some time.

“It just didn’t happen fast enough,” he said, standing yards away from where VanLandingham was fatally struck.

VanLandingham was the third city-operated Esperanza Bicycle Safety Education Center employee to die in a bike crash in two years.

“My daughter was a spectacular human ... and the one thing that she would want is for me to be here really encouraging safety,” VanLandingham’s mother, Melinda Montoya, said at the news conference. “... And I just hope that we use this opportunity ... as a community to move forward, to really make feasible change for community safety.”

The proposed HAWK, or high-intensity activated crosswalk beacon signal, is the same as those placed along East Central — an area that has for years seen the largest cluster of pedestrian fatalities.

City spokesperson Dan Mayfield described the signals as “on-demand” red lights that stop drivers in both directions to allow a safe crossing.

“HAWK means stop when you see a red light,” city Department of Municipal Development Director Jennifer Turner said.

Along with adding the traffic signal, the city announced it would have police enforce signal and pedestrian crossings and launch a cyclist and pedestrian awareness campaign.

The best thing the city can do, he said, is make sure incidents like VanLandingham’s do not happen again.

“And because now there is a spotlight on this issue, we can seize the moment to move much, much faster on things that we know should have done a long time ago,” he said.

Keller said, down the road, the city would advocate for changes to state and local laws requiring drivers to yield at crosswalks.

“What do you do with the flashing yellow and a bike crosswalk where you may or may not see the biker?” Keller asked. “And I think you’ve read these stories, it’s actually technically a yield. What does a yield even mean? ... So yes, we have to change state laws too, and maybe now we can finally do that.”

As for VanLandingham, city Parks and Recreation Director Dave Simon said the city will come up with “the absolute, most glorious and perfect things we can do to honor” her.

“She (made) a difference, whether it was helping a young child learn to ride and to ride safely, or helping an adult learn how to care for and maintain their bicycle as a way of pursuing recreation, or maybe even as their means to commute to a job,” Simon said.

“She would be very happy,” Montoya said after the news conference about the city’s plans. “She really cared a lot about people.”

While the installation of traffic signals and potential law changes “won’t bring her back,” Montoya said, it could prevent other families from dealing with the loss of a loved one.