Sunport ramp extension work backs up traffic at Yale/Gibson intersection

STUCK ON YALE WITH SUNPORT

RAMP CLOSED: That describes Mary Regnier, who emails that “now that the entrance ramp onto Interstate 25 north is closed at the Sunport, commuters getting onto I-25 from that area are forced to use Gibson.”

“The reason the lane is closed,” according to New Mexico Department of Transportation spokeswoman Melissa Dosher, “is because we are lengthening it. It is an acceleration lane for traffic exiting Sunport to get onto the interstate, and the old configuration was too short. The new ramp should be open soon.”

Work is scheduled through this month.

And that’s causing problems, Mary says, because “the left-turn arrow onto Gibson from Yale going west allows three cars through the intersection. During rush hour the backup on Yale stretches all the way to the airport. Could the traffic wizards please extend the left green arrow to allow at least six, maybe eight cars through?”

Mary says drivers have been taking things — and their and others’ lives — into their own hands, as she recently saw “10, yes, 10 cars turn (left) on the straight green, preventing traffic going south on Yale from getting through. The cars continued turning left on the yellow and, believe it or not, on the red light as well. The last vehicle went through the red, almost causing an accident as the east/west traffic got (its) green light. Brakes screeched, and horns honked. I’m sure there was cursing as well.”

And Fred DeGuio adds in an email that on Yale at Gibson, “although there are two left-turn lanes, for whatever reason most people tend to stay in the right lane of the double left turn and block access to the left lane, which results in fewer cars getting through the intersection on each arrow. Don’t know what we can do about that, but can we at least increase the time of the left-turn arrows dur- ing this construction as it currently takes two or three cycles to get through?”

NMDOT’s “Traffic Engineer made a request (July 27) to the City of Albuquerque staff — since they maintain this signal — to temporarily modify the signal phasing at the Gibson/Yale intersection,” according to Dosher. City Department of Municipal Development spokeswoman Melanie Martinez says “the requested changes were made.”

MORE ON THE PASEO BUMP: After NMDOT explained recently that a final top layer of asphalt would help smooth the new and improved Paseo del Norte near I-25, Darryl Millet emailed to point out one problem wasn’t bumpy asphalt but bumpy concrete.

“The bump is in the concrete at the beginning of the curved (west-to-south) ramp(’s) left lane, not in the blacktop, so putting the final layer on the blacktop, which was recently done, won’t solve the problem,” Darryl says. “Can they look at the concrete at the beginning of the ramp and see what they can do to fix the problem?”

They did, and say it’s built that way to avoid a bigger problem.

Dosher explains “the concrete pavement has a grade break at the ramp gore — where the loop ramp lanes separate from the westbound PDN lanes — which redirects storm water runoff and reduces the amount of drainage that would otherwise cross the loop ramp lanes at that location. The

grade break is minimal and is within acceptable tolerance even though it is visible as a driver approaches the ramp. The variation in the concrete pavement addresses a drainage issue that needed to be mitigated while staying within the physical constraints of the bridge, the mainline PDN lanes, and the diverging loop ramp lanes.”

TRAMWAY WALL A PEDES

TRIAN HAZARD: Bob emails that “on Tramway at the intersection of Encantado, near Interstate 40, there’s a wall that separates the highway from the bike/jogging lane. No problem seeing the cyclists or runners. It’s maybe 3 to 4 feet high.”

However, recently Bob “was making a turn onto Encantado while heading south on Tramway and almost ran over a woman in a motorized wheelchair who appeared out of nowhere from behind the wall and was cruising into the intersection with the blinking light saying it’s OK to cross.”

Bob had taken “an early look for joggers and cyclists and then concern(ed) myself only with oncoming car traffic before turning. Is there someone to contact about this disaster waiting to happen? The police? The city?”

NMDOT. Dosher says “we will evaluate the area for additional warning signs.”