Seven Bar Loop sidewalks not fit for walking
And drivers invade neighborhood to cut past Coors/Montaño signal
BESIDE MYSELF OVER BLOCKED SIDEWALK:
Duane Meneely asks via email, “Who is responsible for maintaining the landscaping along Seven Bar Loop, north of Ellison Drive NW? On both sides of Seven Bar there are bushes and shrubs that obstruct the sidewalk, sometimes completely covering it.”
Duane says because of the overgrowth, “walking is difficult, and I have taken to walking in the bicycle lane to avoid tripping.”
Johnny Chandler, public information coordinator for the Department of Municipal Development, explains that “on public streets, it is the responsibility of the city of Albuquerque to make sure all walkways are clear of shrubs and other obstructions. A lot of the time, it is the responsibility of the property owner to make sure the sidewalks adjacent to their property are clear.”
In the case of Seven Bar, “the Department of Municipal Development will check this area to see who is responsible and work on getting this sidewalk cleared. We encourage all community members to call 311 or download and use the ONEABQ app if they see a sidewalk view obscured. We will then assess the area in question and either clear the area or contact the property owner to do to the same.” TIRED OF CUT-THROUGH DRIVERS SKIPPING THE MONTAÑO SIGNAL: Carol Hopper called last month to ask about getting speed humps on Antequera. She says drivers are turning off Coors onto Bosque School Road and then racing through the roundabout onto Antequera, past the apartments and behind Sprouts to Montaño to avoid the signal.
Chandler says the city has a process to address such problems.
“Albuquerque has a way for community members to see if traffic calming measures can be installed in their neighborhoods. This program is called the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program. (It) can be accessed on the city of Albuquerque website or by going to cabq. gov/neighborhood-traffic-management-program. On this webpage are step-by-step instructions on how to go about getting traffic calming measures: “Step 1 is submitting a request on our webpage. “Step 2 is DMD assessing the request and sending out a packet for the requestor if the road qualifies. The packet will ask for two-thirds of the residents in that area to agree that traffic calming in their neighborhood is something they are interested in.
“Step 3 after the packet is returned is for DMD to do a traffic study. If the traffic study deems that traffic-calming measures are necessary, we will then set up a public meeting on what we believe those measures should be.
“Step 4 would be installing the traffic calming measures.”
OUT OF SYNC ON ALAMEDA: Peg from Corrales emails, “HELP! I believe that the light at Loretta Drive and Alameda needs to be looked at. In the morning, it is causing huge backups on both Corrales Road and on eastbound N.M. 528 traffic coming down the hill from Rio Rancho.”
Peg explains that “the light turns red for Alameda traffic any time a car comes up to it (on Loretta) and stays red for what seems like a long time even though there is usually only one or two cars waiting on Loretta. Please work your magic to get the timing fixed at this intersection. I tried calling 311 and was told that I needed to call the village of Los Ranchos. I called Los Ranchos and was told I needed to call Bernalillo County, so I gave up.”
Peg adds, “One day last week ... it took me 45 minutes to get out of Corrales . ... Ughh!”
Bernalillo County is in charge of that signal, which is part of a relatively new adaptive signalization system that responds in real time to traffic coming from all directions, rather than giving automatic preference to the larger street or changing the signals when a vehicle is detected. After seeing Peg’s concern, Traffic Control Administrator Bobby Baker responded with, “We are working on it. I think we got it working (Oct. 29) but I will continue monitoring it.”
Editorial page editor D’Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays. Reach her at 8233858; dwestphal@abqjournal.com; or P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M., 87103.