Category Archives: Central Avenue

ABQ, ABQ Ride, Albuquerque, Central Avenue, downtown, transit, transportation, urban

Successful Transit in Albuquerque? It’s Real.

September 30, 2023 4thandcentral Leave a comment

Why Albuquerque Rapid Transit is far from a “Lemon”

by Jordon McConnell

About the author: Jordon McConnell, a nonprofit healthcare and education professional with a background in humanities and French, channels his passion for French urban planning to reimagine Albuquerque’s urban form. His unique perspective emphasizes equitable and holistic community development, aiming to enhance the city’s quality of life for all.

In 2011, the City of Albuquerque began studying the idea of implementing a bus rapid transit (BRT) system along Central Avenue. Bus rapid transit is a form of mass transit that can vary in look and implementation, but generally requires level-boarding platforms for buses, off-board fare payment, dedicated transitways, and signal preemption at intersections (giving buses priority for green lights). By 2016, this idea was put into action, becoming the Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) project. The City sought to replace the aging Rapid Ride system with a better experience, improving passenger comfort, safety, speed, and reliability on the system while also encouraging new, denser development along one of the city’s main thoroughfares.

The project proved to be controversial and lawsuits attempted to block ART, but construction began in earnest in 2016. At the end of construction, the city had a pair of rapid transit lines running 12 and 14 miles respectively, including 11 miles of shared, dedicated transitway. The system featured enough of the attributes of a true BRT that it was awarded the first Gold-Level service standard in the United States by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Controversy continued after its initial opening, as buses provided by BYD Industries proved unable to service the ART routes, causing the system to be delayed. By 2019, the City procured new replacement buses and put the system into regular operation after a two-year delay. In its first few months of service, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the ART succeeded in surpassing the old Rapid Ride’s ridership by over 30%.
Despite this, in 2018, Mayor Keller infamously stated that ART was a “bit of a lemon.” This is a sentiment still felt by many Burqueños, some of whom feel that the project was a waste of money, poorly executed, or unnecessary. Is ART, in fact, a waste? Or is it an essential and successful piece of transit infrastructure and a catalytic part of the city’s urban history?

In a solid rebuke to the project’s detractors, including the Mayor, ART is actually exceeding ridership expectations despite the after-effects of the pandemic and shows a path forward toward a more urban, more equitable, and lower-emission Albuquerque. While concerns about the project’s initial design and implementation are valid, it is important to acknowledge the game-changing nature of ART and the long-term benefits it can bring to Burqueños.

Why Was ART Built When the Rapid Ride Was Already There?

A common view held by detractors is that the ART project was redundant or unnecessary as the previous express bus system on Central Avenue, the Rapid Ride service, was adequate. Let’s address this first. Though the system had “Rapid” in the name, it was a misnomer, as the Rapid Ride failed to accomplish the goals of a true rapid transit system. ART, however, was designed to complement the urban fabric of the corridor while enhancing and providing a more advanced, faster, and more efficient transit option along the corridor.

As Albuquerque continues to evolve into a medium-sized metropolis approaching a million people, investing in rapid transit is not just a matter of convenience but a strategic necessity. Rapid transit projects like ART play a pivotal role in addressing the escalating challenges posed by traffic congestion, air quality, and the demand for more sustainable transportation options. By embracing efficient and environmentally friendly transit solutions, Burqueños can ensure that our transportation infrastructure aligns with our city’s growth trajectory – fostering economic development, reducing urban sprawl, and enhancing the overall quality of life for residents. In this context, ART can do what Rapid Ride simply could not.

Here’s the context:

The Rapid Ride had lower frequencies than what we enjoy with ART. The best frequencies enjoyed on Rapid Ride (every 15 minutes for each line, or about every 8 minutes where they shared their route), are the minimum frequencies for ART on weekdays. For those of us who routinely used the Rapid Ride to commute, these frequencies were rarely actually the case, with buses often delayed.

A large part of ART’s success is due to its dedicated busway, which Rapid Ride lacked. The frequency of Rapid Ride was often worsened by interactions with traffic congestion. This led to “bus bunching,” where a bus falls behind schedule while the next bus catches up to the delayed bus, leading to a situation where both buses arrive at the same stop close together or at the same time. It was not uncommon for bus bunching to cause up to 40-minute delays on Rapid Ride buses! In addition to traffic congestion, this phenomenon could be caused by passenger boarding and disembarking. At busy stops such as Alvarado Station (especially after a Rail Runner train arrived) or UNM at Central and Cornell, buses were often held up for as long as ten minutes while large numbers of passengers boarded the bus and paid their fare.

As a BRT system, ART was designed to offer even greater efficiency and quality of service compared to traditional bus systems (including the Rapid Ride), by incorporating dedicated bus lanes, modern stations, signal priority, and other features. In allowing vehicles to bypass traffic congestion as well as allowing passengers to board the bus at all doors, ART was designed to stay on schedule and deliver a better experience for passengers. In addition, the level-boarding enabled by the station platforms also allows for faster boarding for folks who use mobility aids, such as wheelchairs, as well as families with strollers, bicycles, and other wheeled devices.

Another complaint is that the system was implemented along Central Avenue, rather than Lomas Boulevard. In short, the decision came down to a few major factors:

Central is the backbone of the city’s transit network and often had full buses that prohibited expansion on other routes, such as San Mateo.
At the time, Central hosted the busiest bus routes in the city, so there was a need to improve travel times and service quality along this corridor. BRT along Central would impact and improve service for the highest number of riders as well as increase capacity to allow for future expansion to other corridors.
Central Avenue is a mixed-use corridor running through the city’s densest neighborhoods, a prime corridor for rapid transit, linking homes to job centers.
Rapid transit along Central Avenue provides the biggest potential for increasing housing, commerce, and investment in the city.
The introduction of the ART system also aimed to encourage economic development and revitalization along the Central Avenue corridor, similar to how BRT systems have been used in other cities, such as along the Cleveland Health Line, to stimulate local economies.
For example, shifting rapid transit to the center lanes helps calm auto traffic while allowing transit to remain fast and efficient, and in doing so, induces people to spend more time (and dollars) at shops and restaurants in Nob Hill and EDo, resulting from a safer, quieter environment.
Placing ART on Central Avenue aligned with broader City planning goals, such as promoting sustainable transportation, reducing traffic congestion, and enhancing the quality of public transit.
Travel demand patterns and congestion levels were factors in selecting Central Avenue as the route for ART. Placing the system where there is higher demand and traffic congestion, simply offered more benefits.

Decisions like where to make rapid transit investments are complex and involve numerous considerations. Ultimately, the choice of Central Avenue over Lomas Boulevard for the ART system resulted from a combination of factors that aimed to maximize the benefits for the city, its residents, and its transportation infrastructure.

How ART has Succeeded

Beyond its functional transportation utility, ART has also succeeded in reimagining Albuquerque’s urban landscape. Its design philosophy, focused on safer streets, efficient movement, and pedestrian-oriented streetscaping, has revitalized the aesthetics of the station areas and made Central Avenue a safer and more enjoyable corridor. The incorporation of dedicated bus lanes, sheltered station platforms, and pedestrian-friendly features enhances the overall ambiance, transforming Central Avenue into a more vibrant space that encourages people to walk and explore. Here are just a few of the ways ART has been a success.

Connecting Albuquerque’s Urban Hubs:

Albuquerque’s cultural richness extends far beyond Downtown, flourishing along the Central Avenue corridor, crafting a vibrant and diverse cultural landscape. While Downtown remains a vital urban destination within this corridor, cultural facilities and captivating locales are scattered across the city’s expanse. The true triumph of ART lies in its remarkable ability to unite Albuquerque’s varied urban centers. As it strings together neighborhoods and cultural hubs, it sparks interactions among diverse populations, forging connections that transcend socioeconomic boundaries. This success serves as a powerful symbol of unity and shared experiences.

What sets ART apart from many other rapid transit projects in the United States is its unique role in bridging both the wealthiest and most economically challenged areas in the region. This connectivity significantly impacts residents’ access to job opportunities throughout the city. At a public meeting about the project in 2014, Tim Trujillo spoke with a resident who lived on the West Side and worked near Sandia Labs who stated that ART and the changes it brought would allow her to cut her commute time in nearly half and spend more time with her family.

With future improvements to the corridor, particularly along the eastern stretches of Central Avenue, Albuquerque is leading by example in promoting urban equity in our country. A transportation system like ART, which serves a wide cross-section of socioeconomic populations, provides a valuable tool for individuals to access enhanced education and employment opportunities, offering transformative pathways toward economic empowerment for all.

A Revolution in Transit-Oriented Development:

As mentioned previously, ART’s alignment was carefully planned to intersect with areas that showed potential for growth. This deliberate approach has spurred transit-oriented development, attracting businesses, residences, and entertainment venues that are located in close proximity to ART’s 21 platform stations. The convenient access to rapid transit is already encouraging new development along the corridor. New multi-family residential developments such as the Broadstone Nob Hill bring in dense, market-rate housing that helps relieve pressure on rent prices while providing residents with transit-adjacent lifestyles.

The City has also worked to create more affordable housing along the corridor, such as the new Hiland Plaza Apartments at Central and Jackson, which will primarily house low-income families. Future developments are already planned to break ground throughout the corridor, including a recently awarded grant to transform the Uptown Transit Center into a dense, transit-oriented neighborhood. Zoning reforms that were implemented in 2016 in anticipation of ART helped bring these projects online, and the potential for further zoning reforms along important transit corridors could help push these improvements further. Ultimately, this growth in transit-oriented development will lead to an Albuquerque with stabilized rent prices, diversity in neighborhood and housing choices, and built-in support for local retail and restaurants.

*Uptown Transit Center reimagined, image by CABQ Transit Department*

Lifesaving Pedestrian Improvements and Increased Foot Traffic:

Throughout the ART corridor, project design includes improved streetscaping features such as wider sidewalks, landscaping, benches, public art installations, and pedestrian-friendly crossings. These elements make the station areas more visually appealing and inviting for pedestrians. HAWK signals, which are pedestrian-activated signals that stop traffic for crossing, help prioritize the pedestrian experience and facilitate safer crossings on Central. The improvement in safety is now documented in the data, too, and dramatically at that. Nicholas Ferenchak, professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering and leading the Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety at UNM, has studied Central Avenue and found ART to have significantly contributed to improved safety on the corridor. In the years since ART has been in service, his research has found a decline of 65% in serious and fatal injuries, mostly due to “lowered vehicle speeds and prohibiting left turns.”

The significance of these statistics extends beyond mere numbers. ART’s impact is particularly profound when viewed through a social justice lens. The neighborhoods served by ART encompass diverse demographics, including many individuals and families who are disproportionately low-income, PoC, refugees, immigrants, and new Americans. In the realm of social justice, concerns have often arisen over rapid transit projects potentially contributing to gentrification, displacement, and inequitable access. However, ART’s remarkable safety enhancements coupled with its commitment to inclusivity challenge these critiques. It stands as a model that demonstrates how public infrastructure projects can be vehicles for positive change, fostering both safety and accessibility while promoting economic equity for all residents, regardless of their background or circumstances.

In areas like East Downtown and Nob Hill, ART has helped create a “Main Street” feel, slowing traffic, and encouraging small business and residential development. ABQ Uptown has attracted retailers with their artificial construction of Main Street-esque facilities. The redesign of Central to accommodate ART allows for neighborhoods along the corridor to compete by leveraging their authenticity as true Main Street neighborhoods. ART provides an alternative to car travel, reducing dependence on private vehicles. As people shift to transit for more of their travel, they are more likely to walk to and from transit stations (and therefore by local businesses) instead of driving, especially for short distances. When combined with the transit-oriented developments mentioned above, we have a Central Avenue primed for human-centered growth and activities.

While ART construction did bring short-term challenges and growing pains, it’s crucial to emphasize the lasting benefits. As seen in cities like Portland, Oregon, during the MAX Light Rail construction in the 1980s, disruptive rapid transit projects initially caused local businesses to close along their routes. However, over time, these projects have been credited with revitalizing neighborhoods and promoting local businesses. Areas like the Pearl District in Portland and the Midtown Exchange in Minneapolis have become thriving urban centers with a strong focus on local businesses. These examples demonstrate that the initial disruption may well be worth it. ART’s long-term vision prioritizes pedestrian-friendly environments, convenient transit, and community vitality. As a result, these neighborhoods are more resilient and authentic, making ART’s enduring impact a compelling success story.

Elevating Sense of Place with Improved Aesthetics:

ART’s design philosophy acknowledges the importance of aesthetics, transforming the streetscape into a more inviting environment. This has created an appealing atmosphere that draws people to explore the area, whether for shopping, dining, or leisure. Decisions to move median plantings and trees to the streetside provide shade and decrease the urban heat-island effect as trees mature. Trees placed along the sides of a street live longer than those placed in the center of the street as in the previous configuration of Central Avenue. With increasingly hot weather resulting from climate change, the provision of shade and cooler urban spaces has become an essential aspect of planning for the future. New lighting was also installed to help complement the visual appeal of the surroundings and the historical nature of the street while simultaneously addressing safety concerns and ensuring that pedestrians can comfortably navigate the area during both day and night.

Finally, ART’s dedicated stations serve as landmarks and neighborhood anchors, with distinctive designs that set them apart from regular bus stops. This helps establish a clear identity for the ART system, making it easily recognizable to passengers, including visitors, and contributing to the system’s overall branding. ART stations offer amenities such as sheltered waiting areas, seating, and real-time arrival information. These features enhance the passenger experience, making the system more attractive to potential riders and encouraging higher ridership.

Through-the-Roof Ridership:

As of June 2023, ART has not only recovered but exceeded its pre-COVID ridership, hitting over a million riders between January and June of this year. This figure placed ART as the 6th busiest BRT in the United States, just behind heavy hitters like Los Angeles Metro’s Orange Line and Boston’s Silver Line. It is actually ahead of Richmond’s Pulse Service, Indianapolis’s Red Line, and even the Cleveland Health Line, which inspired many of the United States’ BRT projects, in ridership (National Transit Database, 2023). With increased ridership continuing, it is poised to continue on this trajectory of success. With recent cuts to ABQ Ride’s regular bus system accounting for a 30% reduction in service for most local routes due to a bus driver shortage, ART’s ability to outperform the rest of the system is a testament to its utility and ability to attract riders. ART’s ridership success is also happening while downtown office vacancies remain high in the aftermath of COVID-19. Having started service only a few months before the pandemic, it is hard to avoid wondering what ridership on ART could be today had it never happened. Despite that, we can now look forward to ART cementing its place within the post-pandemic urban fabric of Albuquerque.

While exceeding pre-COVID ridership levels is a positive sign, continued investment in maintaining and improving the system will be important to ensure its long-term success and continued positive impact on the community. Improving ridership and ART’s success will include future changes to land uses along transit corridors and constructing new ART lines to bring benefits to more of the city while also enabling more people to shift their travel to transit and away from private vehicles.

Graph situating ART’s ridership with other BRT networks in the United States*

What Can ART Do for the Future of Albuquerque?

It is important to view ART as a foundational step towards a more comprehensive rapid transportation network. Initial setbacks should be taken as lessons learned, and future improvements and adaptations should be made to optimize the system’s performance and efficiency. In embracing ART, Albuquerque has demonstrated a commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility. By promoting the use of public transportation, the City is making strides toward reducing carbon emissions and minimizing the environmental impact of individual commuting choices. In prioritizing transit-oriented development along the Central Corridor, ART also works to decrease housing market pressures and create more choices for Albuquerque residents by providing diverse neighborhoods to live in. This is a success that resonates far beyond the confines of city limits, as it sets an example for other communities to follow, particularly other cities in the West that struggle to get projects like ART off the planning table.

The 24-Hour Economy

Soon after being elected, Mayor Keller stated he wanted Albuquerque to invest in its 24-hour economy. One area where Keller and the city council can support the 24-hour economy is in implementing late operating hours for ART. Late-night transit options improve accessibility for individuals who work late-night or early morning shifts, have evening social commitments, or need to travel during non-traditional hours. This inclusivity ensures that the transit system meets the needs of a diverse range of riders. A robust, late-night transit service can encourage people to enjoy nightlife activities, such as dining out, attending events at Popejoy or Downtown, and visiting entertainment venues up and down the corridor. This can boost local businesses and contribute to a vibrant urban environment. Late-night transit can serve as an alternative to ride-sharing services, which are expensive during peak nighttime hours. Like many cities, Albuquerque struggles to bring inebriated driving under control. By providing an alternative to expensive taxis and ride-share services, we can cut down on this dangerous behavior.

As mentioned previously, ART serves as a connection to better employment opportunities for many in our city, and late-night hours would only enhance and expand that access to more people. Serving all three of the major hospital hubs, the University, Downtown, Uptown, and Nob Hill, ART already connects the densest neighborhoods in the city with many of our largest employers. Nurses and custodians working overnight, hotel workers, and restaurant and bar employees would all benefit from later hours on ART. If we care about having a 24-hour economy, ART plays a major part in ensuring we have one.

Improving Dedicated Busways

ART’s dedicated bus lanes are a key component of its success, but there are areas where they can be improved. For example, in sections where ART runs in a shared or dual-directional busway, many passenger vehicles become confused and cross the lane, which can be dangerous. One solution that could be employed on these dual-direction busways is to install short, center-running curbs that are low enough for the buses to straddle, but high enough to direct traffic from side streets from crossing Central Avenue. Examples of this exist on Indianapolis’s Red Line, another BRT project built at the same time as ART. In addition to the bi-directional lanes, ART would benefit from dedicated lanes on Copper and Gold downtown. Though these lanes would replace parking spots, it would help increase speed for ART through the downtown core. A queue jump heading east from 10th Street may also help ART vehicles circumvent congestion that can happen at 8th, Central, and Park, particularly when cruisers are taking to the streets (though recent closures of the roundabout that essentially divide the circle in two have helped alleviate this concern on Sundays).

Example of the center curb used in the bus lane in Indianapolis, from *The Fox and the City*. Read their great look into Indy’s new BRT.

An ART Bus stopped at the Main Library Station at 6th and Copper, where ART would benefit from dedicated lanes through Albuquerque’s core.

Future Expansions of ART are Needed

The changes mentioned above are changes that are all readily available to be implemented quickly. But what about further down the line? We have already seen how ART is helping to change land use and increase safety, transport efficiency, and job accessibility. These are not changes that need to be constrained to the present ART Corridor. At present, several important job centers and corridors are absent from ART service, including the Montgomery corridor, much of 4th Street, Cottonwood Mall, and the Journal Center.

A quickly done, imagined service map of what a wide-running ART System could look like.

Imagine an ART line connecting the Sunport or Downtown with the Journal Center and the Westside. In addition to these areas, a key restraint to more development of multi-family housing at Mesa del Sol is the lack of high-capacity transit. A common complaint about ART is that Central Avenue already had good transit and that the money should have been invested to improve transit elsewhere. Though we have touched on why it was appropriate to develop Central Avenue first, the heart of the critique IS very relevant. Much of Albuquerque DOES need more investment and there are people who would happily leave their car at home if it was more convenient for them to do so. The City’s “ABQ Ride Forward Initiative” is currently looking at ways to rebalance the bus network so that wider parts of the city would have greater access to frequent bus lines. This is definitely a step in the right direction. However, the initiative is simply a rebalancing, moving around current infrastructure without adding anything new. What would investing more in the transit system look like?

ART Can Catalyze the Creation of “Urban Villages”

With an expanded ART network, we could begin reimagining areas of the city so that amenities, housing, retail, and employment opportunities could be accessed over a wider territory. Creating what are called “urban villages,” mixed-use areas with medium to high density that can anchor otherwise suburban areas, is a strategic approach to fostering sustainable urban development and vibrant communities. In Uptown, we are slowly seeing the district infill with new apartment buildings, hotels, and amenities. Winrock Town Center may very well become a new urbanist infill project, in addition to the Uptown Transit Center being rebuilt as mentioned before. As Uptown slowly becomes an urban center in its own right, we should imagine how we can create urban villages in other areas of the city. Imagine how a rebuilt, enhanced ART Blue Line could help transform the area around Cottonwood Mall. Currently, the Cottonwood Mall area is a crossroads of the West Side, connecting various West Side neighborhoods to nearby metro communities like Corrales and Rio Rancho. It is home to one of the largest high schools in the region and near the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute. A new ART line could help densify this area, adding options for employment, entertainment, and commerce, and over time, alleviating cross-river commutes.

Images above, from the book *Sprawl Repair Manual*.

The images above paint a picture of how Cottonwood and other areas of the city could be reimagined as new “urban villages,” serving as hubs within sectors of the city. With a good rapid transit system connecting them, Albuquerque would be much better suited to meet the challenges and demands of the 21st century.

Improved Regional Connectivity

If you are a New Mexican living far from Albuquerque with a chronic illness such as cancer, HEP-C or HIV, it is likely that you travel into the city regularly for continued treatments. Albuquerque serves as a regional healthcare and services destination hosting some of the only specialized medical, educational, and business centers in the state. It isn’t uncommon for residents in underserved outlying communities to delay care or other activities due to a lack of transport and means. Good public transit inside the city can help create the environment to better support regional transit as well. As Rio Metro slowly improves the Rail Runner to (hopefully) run hourly throughout the day in the next decade, that could bring additional rider demand into the city. But what do you do once you get to, say, Montaño Rail Runner Station?

An expanded ART could better connect the Rail Runner to regional job and services hubs at UNM Health Sciences Center, Journal Center, Cottonwood, and Sandia National Labs, as well as other areas that aren’t necessarily surrounding a station. Suddenly, a lot of those motorists from Santa Fe, Los Lunas, and Los Alamos who did not want to deal with a 40-minute bus ride or a $20+ Uber have options, lessening congestion on I-25 and improving environmental outcomes. With improved regional bus and rail connections, these benefits can extend to underserved populations, who desperately need fewer barriers to accessing care, education, and opportunities. Many New Mexicans would love to have expanded rail and bus options from Albuquerque and expanding ART can help lay the groundwork to make that possible. As the state’s central hub for just about everything, we can leverage ART to help promote better health outcomes and economic prosperity throughout New Mexico.

An ART bus arrives at Alvarado, where it interchanges with Rail Runner, Amtrak, and Greyhound Bus Lines.

Where Should ART Expand Next?

Let us know in the comments below, or reach out to the team at UrbanABQ for further discussion!

*BRT Ridership for Cleveland Health Line reflects passenger numbers as of May 2023.

All photos of ART were taken by the author.

ABQ, Albuquerque, Central Avenue, downtown, streetscape, urban, walkable

A Vision is Critical for Downtown ABQ to Flourish

August 13, 2023 4thandcentral Leave a comment

Time to Update & Upgrade that Sector Plan

by Tim Trujillo

About the author: Tim Trujillo is one of the co-founders of Urban ABQ. He is an urban designer and planner currently based in San Francisco, CA

A view of Downtown Albuquerque looking west, feat. the Rail Runner, One Central, the Convention Center, and other assets/destinations. Image source: Ben Bunner

In the late 1990s, there was considerable discussion and press around the return to cities as many were envisioning what their downtowns might one day look like after decades of white flight and the ravages of Urban Renewal. Some cities were already experiencing a return of professional workers and creatives looking to find lower rent in walkable neighborhoods, typically in larger cities with an existing stock of dense housing or converted warehouses near their cores. After numerous attempts to redevelop Albuquerque’s city center, this seemed like the right time to jump on the bandwagon as stars were aligning for the re-urbanization of cities.

History & Background

In 1998, then-mayor Jim Baca oversaw the creation and subsequent adoption of the Downtown 2010 Sector Plan, which called for a form-based code and catalytic projects intended to galvanize downtown Albuquerque. Though revitalization got off to a quick start, political and economic headwinds ultimately slowed it to a frustratingly slow crawl by the end of the aughts. As Albuquerque continues to weather economic boom and bust cycles, a succession of political leaders listlessly wonder how or what to do about one of the most important neighborhoods in the state. A vital answer is in the one key piece of the plan that was never formulated: a vision, or spatial blueprint, articulating where and how all of the pieces should come together to create a legible and vital urban core.

The 2010 Sector Plan referred to downtown and surrounding areas as “the District”, a snazzy new marketing term at the time. The plan had the lofty objective of making downtown “the best mid-sized downtown in the U.S.” This was to be achieved by delivering a laundry list of catalytic projects that included 5,000 new downtown residents (which downtown is well short of in 2023), an arena and/or stadium (nope), a grocery store (check), performing arts center (nope), and street tree irrigation (really? Not even this is completed?), among a few others.

The heart of the plan was an emerging form of development regulation called form-based zoning code that controls the form (heights, widths, setbacks, entryways, among others) of buildings and enables a plethora of urban-related uses. The authors of the plan were the Pasadena, CA-based architecture firm Moule & Polyzoides, whose founder was a former president of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) and had lectured at UNM. While this plan had some early success, headwinds quickly developed, which, over time led to its ineffectiveness.

It is worth noting that Sector Plans, especially in critical areas such as downtown, should be updated at least every 10 years as social and economic conditions change.

It has been 25 years.

An illustrative graphic of Downtown ABQ, feat. the Theater Block.

Unfortunately for downtown, Mayor Jim Baca only served a single term and was replaced by Marty Chavez who had already served the prior two terms. Mayor Baca had not only delivered the 2010 Plan but oversaw the construction of the Alvarado Transportation Center and Theater Block, which together represented downtown’s nascent ascendance.

During Mayor Marty’s administration, it was becoming clear that cities with revitalizing downtowns were growing more competitive when it came to attracting new jobs and a young, educated workforce that was driving the new knowledge economy. However, downtown was low on his list of priorities and, thus, the mayor never carried forward any of the prior administration’s or the 2010 Plan initiatives, nor did he have anything planned aside from a tepid attempt to build an arena, which was quickly shot down by a surly land owner. Seemingly grown out of the void in leadership was the Downtown Mainstreet Organization, which worked toward the incremental enhancement of the city’s core. The Executive Director, staff members, and their pro bono board worked to study, plan, and execute small projects for which funding could be found, largely through humble grants and civic goodwill.

An illustrative vision of Downtown Albuquerque. Note an indoor stadium on the Innovate ABQ site, as well as high-rise development adjacent to the Convention Center.

When Chavez’s tenure came to a close and Republican Richard Berry was elected mayor in 2009, The Great Recession halted any remaining vestiges of momentum and downtown revitalization went idle for several years, aside from the efforts of Downtown Mainstreet. In a surprising turn of events, Mayor Berry determined that revitalizing downtown would aid in retaining talent and attracting young professionals and investment to the city. To his credit, he contributed a fair amount to revitalization, including:

Rehabilitation of the Convention Center;
The Innovate ABQ Master Plan;
The Railyards Master Plan and some early site work that instigated the weekly market;
The Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) bus system, designed to whisk riders in and out of the city center and connect to UNM & Uptown.

By this point downtown had some momentum again with a combination of the efforts by the mayor along with Mainstreet’s contributions like the neon lighting along Central Avenue, taking on the Downtown Grower’s Market, the planting of new street trees, and the activation of Civic Plaza. However, the mayor did not like that Mainstreet’s efforts were not organized through his office so he pulled the plug on city funding for the organization, which significantly reduced their impact moving forward.

At the end of Mayor Berry’s second term in 2017, voters opted for Democrat Tim Keller, who promised to restore Albuquerque…to some hyperbolic end as all new mayors do. When he entered the mayor’s office he disregarded his predecessor’s work by letting the Innovation ABQ Master Plan languish, also decided not to fund ABQ Mainstreet, and for nearly six years had been mostly aimless in his attention to downtown. He also threatened to pull the plug on the ART system (which was 99% built and had mostly been paid for with Federal funds), and then at the eleventh hour came through to act as its savior. He re-released RFPs (something Berry did at the end of his term but ran out of time to see through) for projects at two sites, Civic Plaza North and another behind the Theater block, yet nothing has come from those despite intriguing entries.

To his credit, he did add a police presence by giving APD space within the city-owned building at 4th and Central, which, judging from news reports, does not seem to be solving any issues. It certainly hasn’t increased business nor visitation. He also recently presented a concept for the Rail Trail, which does have the potential to spark renewed interest in downtown. However, all we’ve seen are pretty renderings so far. As someone who has designed and built a similar facility in another city, there are a million complications that come with high costs when dealing with a project like the Rail Trail that will take serious effort by the city and administration to see through to fruition. Also, I’m doubtful $80 million will be enough given those elevated segments, art pieces, and the 7-mile length. I’ll bet that amount of money for a downtown soccer stadium would have a better return on investment for downtown but I digress. Time will tell.

The RFP Submittal for Civic Plaza North included a performing arts theater and a condo/hotel tower

Next Steps

Returning back to the late 90s when Jim Baca hired the new urbanists to shape Albuquerque’s downtown, designers were still learning how urban building form worked with market forces. Professionals were still learning how to design cities based on models that were created for millennia before the arrival of the automobile led cities in a new, sprawling direction. The new urbanist theory proposed that within these denser, more urban areas, commercial and retail should front all of the streets the way they did in older cities. Unfortunately, this is not how market dynamics play out in the real world and economic forces shift over time.

In the couple of decades that have passed, we learned that low-to-medium density urban areas such as our downtown cannot support retail and commercial uses along every street and corner. The arrival of online retail has only further exacerbated the issue by siphoning off cash from local businesses. Retail and commercial require disposable income to be viable and until downtown further increases residential density and attracts thousands more jobs, the Groundhog Day-like cycle of retail and commercial turnover in existing spaces that we have witnessed for decades won’t end.

Downtown Houston Vision. Source: Asakura Robinson

What the city critically needs is a new, illustrative, contemporary vision for how downtown should grow over time so that current and future leaders will have an updated roadmap for which residents can hold city officials to account. Some people will point out that we have a “Downtown Forward Plan” put forth by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency (MRA), but it’s mostly a list of initiatives (the Railyards, Rail Trail, and Media Academy) set forth by this mayor (not the community), as those were never priorities from previous planning efforts. A new vision should be in the form of an updated, new Downtown Sector Development Plan.

Barcelona had the Cerda plan, Paris had Haussmann, Chicago had Burnham, and DC had L’Enfant. Today, no one person generates these plans as they are typically awarded to national and international firms that specialize in such plans, and more importantly, their processes. While the 2010 Plan, ahem, now the 2025 Plan (and largely unchanged since it was written 25 years ago!) has a punch list of desired projects to choose from, it does not offer a firm vision as to where any of those projects should be placed, nor how they should be connected. It is overly focused on architecture and lacks direction for the equally important ingredient: the public realm. What is missing are commitments to delivering key elements of a plan such as open space, mobility, housing, ecology, and urban design that will guide all of the city’s placemakers (e.g. mayor, private developers, the university, labs, and municipality) to methodically and strategically chip away at completing the community’s vision over time.

For example, downtown needs a carefully crafted strategy that will guide retail and commercial ground floor uses to foster an inviting experience for residents and visitors. Scattering these uses around downtown will be less effective than concentrating them together along, say, Gold Ave and 4th Street. Although the 2010 Plan (sorry, the 2025 Plan) calls for a first-class pedestrian experience, it does not define what that means. And while Jeff Speck’s strategy document has some good ideas, they were more tactical in nature, suggesting a temporary condition intended to make incremental enhancements.

A diagram that illustrates the desired mobility hierarchy in cities

A downtown vision should illustrate a holistic street network strategy for active mobility, transit, delivery, and freight that lays out clear street section guidelines indicating dimensions for landscape buffered sidewalks, street trees, and buffered bike lanes. The City did update its standards for sidewalk design to help facilitate the type of comfortable and attractive streetscape that is appealing and comfortable for pedestrians and contributes to urban vitality. But now the city needs to know exactly how and where to apply those new standards. Additionally, a new plan should contain ecological objectives, which would include a framework for the delivery of stormwater management and tree canopy, as well as updated and new types of open spaces, such as parks, pocket parks, parklets (parquitos!), and publicly-accessible private open spaces, meant to serve a growing and thriving downtown populace. I, for one, am ready to reimagine Civic Plaza and would also love to see new parks in the area south of Central. A lot has changed about the way we interpret urban living and the Sector Plan should reflect a contemporary vision – not one from a quarter century ago.

2035, Downtown Albuquerque

Picture it: people are pouring into downtown via ART, the RailRunner, the Rail Trail, and a new streetcar (a guy can dream, right?) and making their way to dinner in anticipation of opening night for a highly anticipated movie (Barbie III, perhaps?), which is occurring the same night as a flamenco performance at the Kimo, a New Mexico United soccer match at a new downtown stadium, and a philharmonic concert at the new performing arts hall across from Civic Plaza. The vibrancy that is derived from people of all walks of life rubbing shoulders at local venues, restaurants, bars, on the sidewalks, and in the streets is what makes downtown Albuquerque unique to the entire state of New Mexico. It belongs to everyone in the city and it deserves priority. Vibrancy derived from activation of the public realm is the magic of cities that we experience when we travel and we occasionally get hints of it at events such as Summerfest or First Fridays.

Conclusion

As of today, downtown Albuquerque has fallen behind its peer cities of Omaha, Tucson, and Oklahoma City, along with lower-tier cities like Asheville, NC, Greenville, SC, and possibly even El Paso and Colorado Springs. Waiting any longer to move forward is senseless when we know what the first step should be. We need to update the Downtown Sector Plan and envision an aspirational downtown Albuquerque so that we can collectively roll up our sleeves to build it into a more vibrant, unique, and exciting place, not just during special events but on a daily basis. No single project is going to be the panacea to the cause; it will take many investments, both large and small and both private and public. An updated Sector Plan with a proper public process can save us from the whiplash of mayoral and council priorities, (in)abilities, and whims, along with indecisiveness about where to place catalytic projects like concert halls, arenas, and stadiums. While we have many well-intentioned agencies and leaders, what V.B. Price wrote in Albuquerque: A City at the End of the World in 1991 still holds true: “Albuquerque, with all its artists, writers, and PhD’s, is strong on gifts of genius, but leadership is not among them.” There is some hope in recently enacted Legislation (Senate Bill 251) that will help send additional funding to our Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency (MRA), who will reinvest the funds in downtown infrastructure. An updated vision will help the MRA prioritize how and where to spend those funds as they become available so that over time, the city can lay the groundwork for further investment that will contribute to the progress of our little, beloved downtown according to our collective vision. Someday we’ll get there but it’s about time we put the effort in the next gear. Perhaps then Downtown ABQ could make the claim that it is the best midsize downtown in the U.S.

Source: Photo by Frank D, courtesy of ABQ Artwalk

ABQ, Central Avenue, transit, transportation

TAKE ACTION: Email Your City Councilor and/or Speak at City Council on Monday

March 17, 2016 4thandcentral Leave a comment

– By Leila Salim, Michael Vos, Dan Majewski and other members of the UrbanABQ team

March 17, 2016

yes art now single template

On Monday, March 21, beginning at 5 PM, there will be a City Council vote on Albuquerque Rapid Transit.

We have been told that this could be the vote that makes or breaks the project. We have also been told that City Council has been receiving primarily negative feedback on the project.

This is our deciding moment.

Have you been sitting on the sidelines? Have you been unable to attend meetings or unable to articulate your support for the project?

Make your voice heard!

Click here to read more!

ABQ, Albuquerque, automobile, Central Avenue, CicLAvia, ciclovia, city, downtown, Los Angeles, progressive, safety, streetscape, transit, transportation, urban, walkable, Wilshire

CicLAvia and the New Los Angeles: Lessons for ABQ from the City of Angeles

July 11, 2013 4thandcentral Leave a comment

– Dan Majewski

Overlooking the 110 Freeway, Wilshire Boulevard

IMAGINE: Central Avenue, from the Rio Grande River to San Mateo, completely closed for an entire Saturday or Sunday. Open lots filled with stages and music. More bicycles, rollerblades, long boards and strollers than you’ve ever seen in your life. People lying in the middle of the street on a mattress. Tall bike riding leotard-wearing youth. Old Route 66 transformed into New Route 66, a street for people.

The equivalent of this happened in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 23. Six miles of Iconic Wilshire Boulevard, the traffic and exhaust choked historic Main Street of Los Angeles, was closed to motor vehicles from 9 AM – 4 PM.

Streets filled with people, Downtown Los Angeles

What is CicLAvia?

The concept is simple:

1) close the street to vehicles

2) bring in food trucks, live music, yoga teachers, etc.

3) make sure all of the businesses along the route are open

4) see what happens!

It is based on ciclovia, a tradition that began in Bogota, Columbia three decades ago. The concept is now rapidly spreading across the United States and other parts of the world. Tucson, a city with many similarities to Albuquerque, is now planning its sixth event. An estimated 25,000 people attended the most recent event in April. Read about my experience at the first Tucson ciclovia here.

Los Angeles first tried this experiment on 10/10/10. The route utilized side streets that normally had little car traffic. It had public support but many a naysayer. After all, modern Los Angeles is practically defined by car culture. Los Angeles is world renowned for soul-crushing traffic jams, a massive freeway system, fancy celebrity filled Ferraris, Jay Leno’s car collection… you get the idea.

Despite the doubt, the inaugural CicLAvia was a huge success… 100,000 people huge.

Where is CicLAvia Now?

There will be three CicLAvia events on the streets of Los Angeles in 2013. It has a vast array of financial supporters and local champions as shown in the photo below.

Banner displaying a portion of the major contributors to the most recent CicLAvia event

The event on June 23 was incredible. The route itself included many famous buildings, museums and public spaces best seen at the speed of a bicycle or slower. For the first time “dismount zones”, where people on foot were prioritized, anchored each end of the route. It marked a welcome change in policy since the goal of CicLAvia is to open the streets to ALL non-auto users, especially people on foot. The fact that this route was shorter than previous routes also made it easier to walk the entire distance.

Read more about the event here and here. The official CicLAvia website can be accessed here.

The New Los Angeles

As someone who was born in Los Angeles and visits frequently, there is change afoot. The Southland is truly beginning to shift its policy and funding priorities towards transit, cycling and walking.

Los Angeles, up until 5 years ago, barely had a bicycle plan. It had little official acknowledgement of bicycles as either a form of transportation or a way to get some exercise and fresh air. The big shift occurred when the outgoing mayor, Anotnio Villagrosa, was hit while riding his bicycle on Venice Boulevard in 2010.

Suddenly, doors opened. It’s unfortunate that it takes a crisis but it’s incredible to see the progress since.

Los Angeles is only one of many cities in the region currently transforming its streets. Long Beach and Santa Monica, both of which will be written about in future posts, are currently the leading the progressive urban awakening in Southern California.

Cities Are for People

The era of car dominance will be looked back upon as an odd blip in human history. For all of time until the past 75 years, every human settlement was built around the person on foot. Even when railroads and streetcars were invented, the city continued to retain this focus. After all, one has to walk to the streetcar station or the railroad depot. It is only with the advent of highly subsidized fossil fuels that our urban areas have shifted into sprawling behemoths connected by 15 lane super highways and dominated by automobile.

Los Angeles is THE poster child, the ultimate symbol for a new direction, a new future, a new hope. With two rail transit lines under construction and three about to break ground, the people of SoCal have voted for a future where one can ride a bicycle safely on the streets of Los Angeles for more than one day a year, where you don’t need a car to get everywhere, where walking is a reasonable and safe way to move around the community.

A map of completed and under construction Metro rail lines

Central Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard: Creating a 21st Century Corridor

Central Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard are two urban corridors experiencing similar transitions. Wilshire recently received designated bus priority lanes. It (like Central) has more transit riders than any other corridor in the city. Plans have been approved for rapid transit on the corridor. However, it will be located underground, providing the city with an opportunity to reshape the streetscape dramatically.

On Central Avenue, an underground transit system makes little sense based the population of our region. Our options at this point are to do nothing, bus rapid transit (in any variety of shapes or forms), light rail, streetcar or possibly a combination of all of the above. Each segment of Central has a slightly different need and this needs to be acknowledged. This community conversation is beginning to bear fruit but it is missing something: a larger regional vision.

The Need for a Regional Vision

Los Angeles is moving forward so rapidly because it developed a regional vision. In 2008, the people of Southern California voted for a tax increase called Measure R to fund improvements in transportation around the region. They are not the only metro area which has done this; Tucson also voted on a similar (but much smaller) proposal in 2006 called the Regional Transportation Authority. All over the country, metropolitan areas are voting not to wait around for the federal government. They are deciding to work together to develop a vision for the future of the region. These movements are both bottom up and top down.

Here in Albuquerque, we recently voted to allocate local bond money to be spent on the Paseo del Norte interchange. This project on its own is not necessarily a bad thing. However, the fact that it was approved in isolation is a disturbing trend. Will we continue to just vote on individual projects as needed? This is a terrible strategy. The PDN interchange should have been part of a larger transportation improvement package.

A rendering of the proposed improvements to PDN

The advantage of a package is projects which would not necessarily be supported independently can be funded when combined with other more popular projects. Also, it allows everyone to get a piece of the pie. For example, the Los Angeles funding measure allocated different percentages of the tax to different pieces of the transportation puzzle: 20% to bus operations, 20% for highway capital projects, etc.

An example from Albuquerque could be 20% for BRT, 10% for Rapid Ride, 5% for protected bike infrastructure, 30% for Paseo del Norte, etc. The options are limitless and putting it all together results in a strategy and a vision.

ABQ 2020

In order to progress economically as region, we need to develop an infrastructure investment package. We need to work together to find out which projects are most important, how much they will cost and how they can be a part of developing a 21st century economy.

I will be explaining the specifics of my proposal in a future post.

Thank you for reading and please comment below!

ABQ, ABQ Ride, Albuquerque, automobile, Central Avenue, city, downtown, ROW, safety, streetscape, transit, transportation, urban

Central Avenue: The Necessity of a Strong Vision, Community Champions and Street Trees

June 13, 2013 4thandcentral 10 Comments

UPDATE 2/4/16: Last night, the City of Albuquerque hosted a meeting about this BRT project on Central, now called ART. See the project website here! Many new and updated features of the project were unveiled at the meeting including pedestrian scale lighting along the entire project corridor and FREE high speed WiFi!

We will be learning if ABQ receives the federal grant for this project in less than 1 WEEK, on February 9th!

Many people believe project has been “fast tracked” without any public input. Part of why we’re reposting this article from 2013 is to disprove that point. Also, many of the concerns voiced in this article have been addressed including:

Bikes and Silver: The City has planned and begun allocating funding for improvements to Silver. This does not mean that Silver will extend past the freeway. However, the city is also going to be making major improvements to bike facilities on MLK, already a heavily used bicycle corridor that connects UNM to Downtown. We still believe that there are unanswered questions about bikes on Central but overall, many improvements to the plan have been made.

Medians vs. Wider Sidewalks: The folks in Nob Hill came to an agreement with the project planners and there will be wider sidewalks through Nob Hill instead of medians, a huge improvement for the business district. In fact, sidewalks will be widened and improved throughout much of the corridor and pedestrian scale lighting will be added throughout the entire corridor!

Marketing, Outreach and Champions: This project has found a champion in the form of Mayor Berry.

However, outreach and marketing by the City on behalf of this project has been too little, too late. Unfortunately, outside sources have spread misinformation about the project. Independent from those outside sources, there has been resistance to the project for a variety of reasons. In addition, it is not always easy to communicate the benefits of this project, the construction process, the potential impacts and other aspects of this proposal.

The people running this project, as of very recently, finally starting using a Facebook page to communicate information. The City needs to do better promotion and outreach for these types of projects to get ahead of any possible pushback or misinformation campaigns. It’s not an easy thing to do but it can be done.

There’s plenty more to be said about this project and we will continue discussing it on our Facebook page.

The original article, in it’s unaltered form, is below:

“Central Avenue: The Necessity of a Strong Vision, Community Champions and Street Trees”

-Dan Majewski, May 2013

During the month of May in 2013, the City of Albuquerque held six public meetings about a proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system for Central Avenue. Every meeting was held in a different location and focused on a different segment of the proposed project.

The format of the meeting was as follows:

15 minute power point presentation about BRT + benefits of the project + why it should be built
30 minute collaborative work session: we broke into small groups and conversed with consultants about what we like on the corridor, what we don’t like, what type of project alignment we would like to see, etc.
15 closing presentations by each of the small groups

The collaborative element was useful. It allowed us to effectively express our opinons and hash out a vision for the corridor. It was also an opportunity to air grievances without having to interrupt the larger group presentation.

Bus Rapid What?

I attended two of these meeting and came away with mixed feelings. BRT could be a great solution to the current transportation problems currently found on Central Avenue but it must be marketed correctly and executed properly. Scroll to the bottom of the article for my full reaction.

Sorry, No Bicycles Allowed

For rapid transit systems to work, they must attract people from a wide geographic area. To accomplish this, bicycles can be a great tool. When asked about bicycles at this meeting, many of the consultants or city leaders implied that bicycles do not belong on Central Avenue. “Why not the Silver Bicycle Boulevard? Or MLK? Or Lead/Coal?” they would say. My response:

Silver is great… until it dead ends at I-25. It does not connect the University of New Mexico to Downtown, Old Town or the Bosque Trail.
The blue line on this map is the Silver Avenue Bicycle Boulevard. As you can see, it currently ends at the interstate freeway on the left side of this image.
Most of the desired destinations are located on Central. I may use Silver for 90% of my trip. However, since my end destination is located on Central, I need to bike on Central for at least a block or two. This means riding on the sidewalk (dangerous/illegal) or in the street (terrifying).
Whether you like it or not, there is already a lot of bicycle traffic on Central. It will only increase over time as this corridor becomes more dense.
Accommodating bicycles does not necessarily mean 6 foot bike lanes in each direction. It simply means providing infrastructure where possible. This is an example of what bicycle accommodation could look like in the narrow segment between University Boulevard and I-25:

The Nob Hill No

The Nob Hill Neighborhood is the most organized and wealthy stakeholder group on this corridor. They are also the most frustrated and angry about this proposal. From their perspective, CABQ is trying to take away something (the medians) which presently provide safe pedestrian refuge.

True BRT = one general traffic lane in each direction. This would lead to slower traffic speeds, creating a safer pedestrian environment and reducing the need for median pedestrian refugees. However, the city has not adequately demonstrated the exchange of the medians for a world class rapid transit system. The project leaders have not clarified how many crossings for people on foot would exist along the segment. Also, it appears to Nob Hillers that this system will simply be going through the neighborhood without stopping (as the current alignment exists). CABQ and ABQ Ride are not effectively selling the system to the neighborhood.

The city should explain that instead of the medians, Nob Hill could get wider sidewalks or bicycle lanes.

Using Streetmix, here’s how the Nob Hill segment currently looks:

Here’s how this segment could look with bicycle lanes:

It could also look like this, replacing bicycle lanes with wider sidewalks:

There are many potential positive possibilities.

Lessons from Ft. Collins, CO

On February 21st, the ULI (Urban Land Institute) hosted a full day conference about BRT in Albuquerque called Transit and Place: First Steps. The day was filled with fantastic presentations from transit providers and developers nationwide.

Kurt Ravenschlag from Ft. Collins, CO delivered a wonderful presentation about the Mason Street Corridor BRT Project. Initially, the project did not go over well in this mid sized college town. It was rejected by the business community because the city was not emphasizing the economic benefits of the project, such as increased values around the station areas. The transit provider was forced to go back to the drawing board. The re-marketing of the proposal was successful and the project is now being constructed with major local support.

The City of Ft. Collins did not change the project! They only changed the sales pitch.

All Together Now

The City of Albuquerque is currently working on a Complete Streets Plan for Central Avenue between 1st St. and Girard. Isolated from the BRT project, this plan has its own webpage, a separate set of public meetings and different group of consultants.

This needs to change.

The BRT plan and the Complete Streets plan are the same thing! They both have the same vision: increased economic development and a safer more beautiful street for people moving throughout the corridor. Why are there two separate plans?

Mr. Ravenschlag from Ft. Collins emphasized the importance of first laying out a vision for the corridor. Streetscaping should be the first conversation, followed by zoning overlays and bicycle/pedestrian access. After all of that, transit should be discussed.

Reframing the Conversation

Central Avenue is in desperate need of a solution.

Half of all transit trips in the city are on this corridor.

It is Albuquerque’s main street but it is marked by vacant lots, visible poverty, fast moving automobile traffic, high pedestrian fatality rates, unsafe intersections and a lack of cohesiveness.

Rapid transit will be a part of the solution but it can not come at the expense of all the other elements. Wide shaded sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, rezoning of the corridor, reduction of parking minimums and safe pedestrian crossings at every intersection are all more important to the long term success of Central Avenue.

This project needs a stronger emphasis on the complete streets and economic development elements of the project.

ABQ Ride and the City of Albuquerque need to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to sell BRT as a larger part of the revitalization of the Central Avenue corridor.

The sales pitch could be something like this:

IMAGINE… an improved Central Avenue, Albuquerque’s Main Street. Envision wide, smooth, safe sidewalks shaded with large native street trees. Think of slow moving vehicle traffic and narrow, easy to cross intersections. Visualize vacant lots disappearing, then filled with shops next to the sidewalk and apartments above. Feel the warm summer air as you leave your apartment and walk a few steps away to a rapid transit station. The station has shade, real time arrival information and other amenities. However, you barely have time to look at all of it since a transit vehicle arrives every five minutes. The successful vibrant Albuquerque of the future is linked to this critical corridor.

Can you see it? I sure can. For it to manifest, it will take strong local champions and a chorus of voices demanding a safer, more prosperous and more beautiful Albuquerque, a city for PEOPLE, where motor vehicles are guests.

It’s a difficult challenge but it’s our best hope for long term economic vitality.

Get involved!

Please comment below if you have questions or comments about this post.

For more information on the Central Avenue BRT project, click this link.

For more information on the Central Avenue Complete Street Plan, click this link.

Like the Complete Streets in New Mexico Facebook page for more news and information.

Like UrbanABQ on Facebook for more news and information.