Tearful witness calls ART ‘a cultural catastrophe’

Judge expects to issue ruling today

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales heard tearful testimony Thursday as he considered whether to grant a preliminary injunction that would halt Albuquerque’s push to build a bus-rapid-transit system down Central Avenue.

“This is a cultural catastrophe,” Albuquerque resident Maria Bautista said on the stand. “This completely destroys the ambiance” of Central Avenue, the old Route 66.

Bautista is one of the opponents suing to stop Albuquerque Rapid Transit, a $119 million project to build a network of bus-only lanes and bus stations in the middle of Central Avenue. Opponents argue that it will create traffic congestion and damage the car-friendly, cruising culture of the road that was once Route 66.

Gonzales said Thursday that he expects to issue a ruling in the case today. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and last about two hours.

The judge has presided over two grueling days of testimony in the federal courthouse Downtown — 10 hours on Wednesday and 12 hours on Thursday, when work wrapped up at 9 p.m.

Construction could otherwise begin as early as next week unless Gonzales orders otherwise.

To grant a preliminary injunction, the judge must consider whether Bautista and other opponents are likely to succeed on the merits of their lawsuit — that the Federal Transit Administration improperly failed to require an extensive environmental analysis before approving the project. Most of the funding for the project comes from the federal government.

Gonzales is also examining whether it would create irreparable harm if the project moves forward.

The city and FTA, in turn, argue that the project was properly vetted and that any delay will increase the cost of construction, perhaps by $7,500 a day. A 90-day delay, then, would cost the city $675,000, city officials testified.

Thursday’s portion of the hearing started with a clash over a 2014 email message from a city staffer — in which he acknowledged that he’d been mistaken about the requirements for the project. To win the kind of federal funding the city wanted, the project didn’t have to include bus-only lanes down the middle of Central Avenue, as he’d initially thought, the staffer said.

John Boyd, an attorney for

one group of plaintiffs, a coalition of business and property owners along the route, said the email indicates the city chose its design for the project based on a misunderstanding of the law.

“This is, to me, a profoundly relevant document,” Boyd told the judge.

Marla Lien, a private attorney representing the city of Albuquerque, said she was “extraordinarily frustrated” by Boyd’s attempt to introduce the email into the case. The city chose the median-lanes for Albuquerque Rapid Transit because it was the safest, most-efficient design — not because one staffer misunderstood the rules for a particular grant, she said.

Gonzales said he would exclude the email from consideration.

He heard testimony Thursday from five witness called by opponents of the project, two from the city and one from the FTA.