A long wait to turn at Tramway and Paseo
DOUBLE-CHECKING THE TRAMWAY/ PASEO TURN SIGNAL: Alan G. emails, “it’s been a few months since the timing of the traffic light at Tramway Boulevard and Paseo del Norte was changed. It appears that this change was to give northbound traffic an advantage to make a left turn west onto Paseo.”
And that means “traffic heading south on Tramway has to wait unusually long for a green light. The green arrow for northbound traffic to turn west on to Paseo stays on even when there are no cars close to making this turn. Meanwhile, the northbound light on Tramway stays green, while the southbound light remains red, holding up traffic.”
Alan says signals “should keep the flow of traffic running smoothly, not cause unnecessary delays.” The county agrees.
Bobby Baker, traffic control administrator for Bernalillo County, says that “the purpose of servicing this left turn after the north/south green — which is referred to as a lagging left — is to keep the north/south traffic flowing and in coordination. The southbound traffic gets a green prior to the north-towest left-turn arrow, so they do not have to wait at the beginning of the cycle. Either way, this arrow is going to service and stop southbound
traffic whether it’s at the beginning or the end of the cycle.”
However, “this left-turn arrow should not service if there are no vehicles in the left-turn lane, so I’ll have to double check the programming. Thank you for bring this to my attention.” DID I-25 WIDENING STOP
SHORT? After a recent column on widening work on Interstate 25 between Rio Bravo and Broadway (and the new third lane in each direction remaining closed until that interchange is rebuilt to keep drivers from jockeying from two to three, then back to two lanes), Charlie called to ask why the work stopped around a half-mile short of the Isleta ramps.
Bernadette Bell, public relations officer for the N.M. Department of Transportation’s District Three office, says “the six lanes actually stop just short of Broadway.”
“The reconstruction project, of which the last 1 linear mile was preservation — mill and inlay — tied into the adjacent preservation project to the south of it (that) was recently completed just a couple of years ago. The pavement remains in good condition there, so there was no need to alter it at this time.” WHY SO MANY WRECKS ON I-40 AT RIO GRANDE? Etwexler emails, “I get text messages about accidents and am amazed at how frequently accidents occur at I-40 and Rio Grande in the morning.”
“They are so frequent that I can only guess there is a real design flaw at the location. Do you have any information about the situation there?”
Having driven that stretch of highway myself, I would cite serious congestion and bad merging during morning rush hour. But that’s just me.
N.M. Department of Transportation folks say they do not always learn about the cause of accidents and recommend contacting law enforcement. Albuquerque Police Department officer Tanner Tixier first offers the disclaimer that he is not an engineer, then adds: “I don’t believe that there are any design issues that would contribute to these accidents. My best guess would be that it’s a combination of the amount of cars merging from Coors combined with driver inattention, (but) I haven’t pulled any accident reports though to confirm my suspicions.” A CALL COULD STOP THE
SPEEDERS ON OURAY: Pmontano2 emails, “can something be done about the excessive speeding on Ouray between Coors and Ladera NW? ... Frequent radar is needed at various times of the day/week. The city is losing revenue by not issuing speeding citations to the drivers.”
Tixier says “anyone with speed/traffic concerns can contact their local substation, Northwest Area Command in this case, and request speed trailers, extra patrol, etc.” The six area command numbers are at cabq.gov; the Northwest number is 7684850.
AND IT WORKS: This summer, ga27m emails, “I called 311 and asked something be done about the speeding on Tingley Beach. I use it go and return about four times a week and experienced an average of three speeders flying around me about 50 mph each week. (Several) weeks ago a sign stating the speed limit is 25 and blinking ‘Your Speed’ (and the mph) was set up. I got passed yesterday by my first speeder. I want to thank whomever was in charge of placing the sign there. Hugs to you, sign placer! Thanks.”