New Mexico News
| Plans to Add Lane to Coors in the Works |
| Posted by () on May 21 2008 at 7:52 PM |
ROAD WARRIOR: WHY DOES NORTHBOUND COORS DROP A LANE AT PASEO? Norm Ruth says via e-mail that when it comes to northbound Coors traffic backing up at Paseo, "in my opinion, the bigger problem— and the reason why the intersection at SIPI gets blocked— is that northbound Coors chokes as it goes from three down to two lanes as it goes under Paseo and goes back to three lanes on the other side.
"Why is this not apparent to the traffic engineer?"
Phil Gallegos, public information officer for the New Mexico Department of Transportation's District 3 office, says "actually, this was apparent when Paseo del Norte was built. The overpass was designed with enough space underneath to accommodate the third lane, but traffic flows at the time did not warrant it. By designing for the future, it saved taxpayer dollars not having to redo the overpass.
"Fast forward to present day, and the third lane is truly necessary. Plans to add the lane are on the drawing board awaiting funding to make it happen."
DODGING CARS ON MEADOWLARK:Jack White writes that "we need the westbound right lane of Meadowlark Lane a right-turn only onto N.M. 528."
That's because, Jack says, "the cars from Smith's (strip) mall, Corrales and local traffic line up past the drive and crosswalk here. Those in wheelchairs and on walkers are in the gravest danger of being struck by speed demons passing the line up in the right lane.
"Drivers trying to enter traffic inch out but are unable to see the cars in the middle lane oncoming."
"Please give this problem expeditious treatment," Jack says. "Lives are in danger!"
They may very well be. But while adding a new dedicated right would help move traffic in that direction, it wouldn't help through traffic, make drivers obey the crosswalk or behave in a safe and courteous manner.
Leonard Rivera, Traffic Operations manager for Rio Rancho's Department of Public Works, says the far right lane of Meadowlark is a through-traffic lane that also serves as the right-turn lane.
"This lane has been proposed as a right-turn-only by many residents," Rivera says. "This would decrease our capacity for moving westbound traffic through this intersection. A new right-turn-only lane would be the best solution, but also the most costly. The land needed for this is currently part of a parking lot and has a steep slope from the parking lot down to Meadowlark."
In the interim, he says, "this intersection does have pedestrian signals for all phases— crossing east, west north and south."
The key is "keeping right-turning traffic from creeping out onto the crosswalk past the stop bar," which Rivera says so far has been "a losing battle."
He says "educating the public to drive in a safe and courteous manner is the first step."
That's an important one for drivers to take if pedestrians are going to safely step off the sidewalk onto Meadowlark or 528.
Assistant editorial page editor D'Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for West Siders on Tuesdays and the rest of the Metro area on Saturdays. Reach her at 823-3858 (phone), 823-3994 (fax), road@abqjournal.com (e-mail) or P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103. Check out previous columns at abqjournal.com/traffic.