Federal budget paves the way for city’s ART funding

Now that Congress has approved this year’s $1.1 trillion federal spending bill — and avoided shutting down the federal government at least until September — the muchanticipated $50 million first payment on the Central Avenue ART project should soon be headed for Albuquerque, much to the relief of Mayor Richard Berry and the controversial program’s supporters and detractors alike.

Considering all the construction disruption, nobody wanted to foot the bill for an unkept $99 million federal promise in addition to waiting in traffic.

The $119 million Albuquerque Rapid Transit project, slated for completion by the end of this year, is designed to transform Central Avenue into a rapid transit corridor with a nine-mile stretch of center bus-only lanes and median bus stations. City officials are counting on the initial $50 million from the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Program, and another $49 million next year, to help pay for the project. The city kicked in the other $20 million.

While President Trump has targeted that capital investment program and its Small Starts grants — he wants to limit those grants “to projects with existing full funding grant agreements only” — ART meets that criteria and should not be at risk.

And that’s a good thing. A look at capital projects unfolding in the city — go ahead and add planned ones to the mix — shows there’s nothing out there with more potential for jump-starting the local economy than ART. There are already construction projects popping up along the ART corridor, indicating that at least some developers are confident the project will bring in people, businesses and revenues as promised.

Yes, the ART rollout has been less than smooth. Numerous local businesses suffering the brunt of the construction have seen their customer numbers drop. And the longpromised loan program to help those businesses hit major speed bumps when it should have been available much earlier in the process.

Meanwhile, Central Avenue and its major feeder streets in the ART corridor remain a nightmare for commuters and businesses, and both will continue to suffer until the last orange barrel is put on the truck. Hopefully, drivers who have avoided Central during construction will return once it ends and give the new traffic pattern a chance.

Five or 10 years from now, Albuquerque might look back and say ART didn’t deliver on its promises. Or residents could be crediting it with sparking a revival along Central unrivaled since the days of Route 66.

Considering there are no other transformative projects breaking ground in the city, ones that will draw employers, residents and consumers alike to a large section of Albuquerque, let’s all hope it’s the latter.