City asks feds for help with traffic issues on Coal, Lead
Neighbors say repeated car wrecks show a real need for ‘emergency action’
Residents who live along Lead and Coal avenues in Southeast Albuquerque have for years asked the city to mitigate what they say are dangerous traffic conditions that lead to repeated car crashes.
Earlier this year, the city adjusted traffic signals on the streets in an attempt to curb speeding. And, after months of task force meetings with neighbors, the city in September asked the federal government to conduct a third-party analysis, fulfilling one of
the residents’ main requests.
“Community members asked for it, and we’re listening and we’re responding,” said Johnny Chandler, spokesman for the city’s Department of Municipal Development.
But with no clarity about when — or if — the Federal Highway Administration will do the requested “road safety audit” of Lead and Coal between Washington and Yale, residents are now asking the city to take “emergency action” on the corridor.
Dr. Joseph Aguirre, who lives in the University Heights neighborhood, contacted top city officials last week with a list of proposed measures for their consideration that includes 24/7 police patrols of the area, a speed limit reduction to 25 mph from 30 mph, and conversion of all traffic signals to four-way stops with flashing red lights.
Aguirre said his request comes “in the absence of any framework for emergency action from the City,” and that he wrote on behalf of the University Heights Association and “an adhoc group” called the Lead-Coal Safety Brigade. His request followed a recent three-vehicle crash at Coal and Girard — the same spot where in 2015 an ABQ
Ride bus crashed into a home.
The city’s Lead/Coal Task Force, which concluded in August, found those streets had a higher crash rate than others it evaluated. The average crash rate for signalized intersections on Coal was 1.67 per 1 million entering vehicles in 2017, which the task force noted was higher than the years before Albuquerque Rapid Transit construction on the nearby Central corridor. Coal’s crash rate had been 1.46 between 2013 and 2016.
The crash rate for signalized intersections on Lead was the same before and after ART, at 1.42 crashes per million entering vehicles, according to a task force report.
Washington between Zuni and Menaul averages 1.05 crashes per million entering cars at signalized intersections, while the rate at San Pedro between Menaul and McLeod is 1.19.
“We recognize a slightly higher crash rate,” Chandler said. “We want to solve that just as much as the neighbors do. We have a plan of action, some of which has already been implemented.”
In April, DMD shortened the length of green lights on the corridor and Chandler said the city needs time to determine its effectiveness. It will reevaluate in April 2020 and would consider other ideas, including a speed limit reduction, if it has not seen improvement.
The city’s Solid Waste Department also has worked on concerns related to landscaping, removing dead foliage and dedicating a contract employee to maintain the foliage to prevent line-of-sight obstacles.
He said the city would not replace traffic lights with four-way stops as officials do not believe that would improve safety, and that it could worsen air quality — another of the neighbors’ concerns.
The Federal Highway Administration, FHWA, said Friday it received Albuquerque’s request, but nothing has happened yet.
“FHWA will meet with the City in the future to determine the safety issues and concerns that will need to be addressed as part of the audit. After the initial meeting, the process, timeline and data (for example, the types and numbers of crashes and fatalities involving vehicles and pedestrians) will be delineated in order to develop a clearer representation of the issues and a corresponding set of possible solutions,” the agency said in a written statement.