’19 Balloon Fiesta needs all hands on deck for traffic

“You guys have had this for how many years? You should have figured it out by now.”

— Colorado Springs resident Laura Song, who braved the opening day traffic debacle to get to 2018’s 47th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta mass ascension

“This gives Albuquerque such a bad name.”

— Carol Gordon, who in 2010 sat at the Intel park-andride from 6 a.m. on, but never got a bus to the fiesta

The criticism of the 2018 Balloon Fiesta traffic management plan stings all the more because it isn’t new.

2018: As park-and-ride ticket holders wait for buses that don’t arrive, social media lights up with comments about traffic jams, long lines, long waits and “#balloonfiasco” from the many still in their cars or waiting on buses.

2014: Mileslong traffic backups and overflowing parking lots for the first morning mass ascension and evening glow are so bad that then-City Council President Ken Sanchez says it’s time to do a serious cost analysis of increasing the number of roads into and out of the park, as well as the number of parking lots.

2010: Hundreds of would-be fiesta-goers are stranded in park-and-ride lots across town — Intel, Coronado Mall and Hoffmantown Church — as buses are re-directed to start picking up people ready to leave the fiesta.

Is this any way, as the Balloon Fiesta’s mission statement proclaims, “to conduct the world’s premier ballooning event while renewing friendships and promoting camaraderie among all participants and promoting the sport of ballooning, the City of Albuquerque and the State of New Mexico, nationally and internationally?”

And yet, as the aforementioned shows, it has been for years. That’s in great part because the fiesta has become a victim of its own success.

Going forward, Sanchez was right in 2014, and his advice rings true today. Officials need to look at possible additions to ingress, egress and parking. They need to make good on their word and put a limit on the park-and-ride tickets sold (a record 21,000 this fiesta, no word on the number of refunds). They need to consider adding security and opening the park earlier to spread out the crush of attendees, and perhaps sell tickets with arrival and departure times, especially for those taking park and ride, where the buses should perhaps start at 4 a.m. rather than 5 a.m.

And because one fiesta official made it clear this year, “we’re not traffic people; we’re balloonists,” it is essential that true traffic experts with the state, city, county and local law enforcement agencies put all hands on deck to finally address the issue of getting as many folks as possible safely into and out of the fiesta in a timely fashion.

They can start with looking at why the signals on Alameda — the main road into and out of the park — were flashing red the first day. They can continue with why the city of Albuquerque hasn’t piggybacked on Bernalillo County’s adaptive signalization project on Alameda from Coors to Second and continue it to Interstate 25. Adaptive signalization reacts in real time to traffic patterns; the city put its stretch of Alameda on hold until the Paseo del Norte interchange was rebuilt, yet that was finished in 2014 — four balloon fiestas ago.

It’s also worth noting that other cities put on worldclass events that draw huge crowds: Mardi Gras comes every year to New Orleans; Sundance descends on Park City, Utah; Coachella takes over Indio, Calif.; Burning Man lights up Black Rock City, Nev. It is past time to take other folks’ crowd lessons learned and use them here.

Because the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta reflects on our state, our city and our people, in addition to our event. And none can afford more comments from would-be visitors that echo this one from Albuquerequean Robert Quintana:

“That’s it for me. I’m done with fiesta. I love being on the field and watching the balloons, but it seems like every year I have to wake up earlier and I still get stuck in traffic, whether I drive or take the park and ride. Now, when I’m ready to leave, I’m stuck in a line again. I’m done with it. I might as well sleep in and watch it on television.”