Road Warrior: ABQ to restripe Broadway from Coal to Lomas, add bike lane, speed camera

Happy Monday.

I hope everyone remembered to set their clocks back an hour.

Before daylight saving time ended, the city of Albuquerque announced it will make changes on parts of Broadway Boulevard in an effort to reduce pedestrian and bicycle fatalities.

In early 2026, the city plans to restripe Broadway from Coal to Lomas to make room for more parking and add a buffered bicycle lane. It will also put up a speed camera on South Broadway “to further slow traffic in the area,” Department of Municipal Development spokesperson Dan Mayfield said in a news release on Thursday.

It is unclear where on South Broadway the camera will be placed.

“I look forward to when the city really steps in and starts building protected bike lanes,” BikeABQ President Patrick Martin said in a phone interview. “But buffered lanes is a big improvement over what’s happening on Broadway right now.”

The design should be done by early 2026, Mayfield said.

“These changes will make it easier and safer for everyone to walk, bike, and drive through this corridor, while also supporting the vitality of the surrounding neighborhoods,” said Joaquin Baca, city Councilor for District 2, in a statement.

Mayfield said the city also plans to make traffic signal improvements and add a new HAWK (high-intensity activated crosswalk) signal.

ADDRESSING SPEEDING: On Tuesday, the Bernalillo County Commission adopted a resolution creating a task force to address speeding.

The county will reach out to officials in Albuquerque, Los Ranchos, Tijeras and adjacent pueblos about joining the task force, Bernalillo County spokesperson Melissa Smith said in an email.

“There are a number of reasons why people go over the posted speed limit,” Frank Baca, commissioner for District 2, said in a news release. “Traffic congestion, running late for an appointment, a meeting or picking up children from school. There can also be a tendency to speed if a person is comfortable with the route they take each day.

“Regardless of these factors, our objective is to make certain we are employing all of the best practices and technology that has shown effective results in speed reduction in other communities.”

The county will look to hire a consultant in the next few weeks, Smith said.

TRASH PICKUP CHALLENGE: Reader Linda Strasburg said in an email that she was “pleasantly surprised to see roadsides free of trash” during a road trip from Albuquerque to Kentucky.

“How could this be?” she asked. “I saw very few signs stating that a family or a group were taking responsibility to keep the trash cleaned up. Is it simply that the citizens of New Mexico don’t have the same respect for their environment?”

Strasburg added, “I offer a challenge to every New Mexican! Can we, as individuals and collectively, show our pride by disposing of our trash at home instead of out our car windows? Wouldn’t it be amazing if we personally cleaned up our environment one plastic bag, one fast food wrapper, one scrap of paper at a time? They do it in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky. We can too!”