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To Zoidberg,
You are correct in the core city to suburb analogy of payment ratio to road use in Albuquerque up to a point. Though the core city pays for the road improvements it is the core city businesses and local homeowners that reap benefits. Local businesses are frequented more due to ease of access and businesses benefit from on-time employees.
But no matter who is on the roads if they are congested then improving them benefits the local resident who must drive the neighborhood on a regular basis. Unless a city wishes to upset its residents and business owners by denying access to outside visitors then I see no way to use the imbalance of payment to use ratio as reason to not improve a road or to correct the source of congestion when the duty of a city, or county, or state is to make improvements for its citizens.
In most every large city the suburbs reach a point where they contain enough business and entertainment that a majority of residents do not leave the suburb on a regular basis or atleast the exchange becomes equalized. But until then the host (core) city reaps the benefits of unequal spending. As an example, Rio Rancho residents spend more money outside of Rio Rancho than in it. Yearly, Albuquerque receives hundreds of millions in tax dollars from residents they do not have to support.
You mention cities that I should go look at - I've lived in the majority of the cities you mention which is why I know how freeways impact traffic flow. In Phoenix Metro for example, I lived in Glendale, AZ from '83 to late '89. Glendale was a suburb happily growing westward to Peoria, Arrowhead Ranch, Sun City, and beyond without a care in the world in the early Eighties. (As were all the suburb cities of Phoenix) Valley residents said for years how it was getting too crowded and the best thing to do was not to build a freeway because if you build it they will come. Let me tell you, they came anyway.
In 1987 the Phoenix Metro area was the 11th largest metro area in the US yet had the freeway miles of the 217th. Only I-17 went through Phoenix and I-10 stopped 20 miles west in Goodyear. The congestion was terrible. A trip to the airport took 75 minutes; to get accross town - even longer. Yet contrary to the popular belief it became worse with every passing year. As well, it became more costly in land purchase prices, time, and labor costs to build freeways by the time the majority pulled their head out of the sand.
I'm not saying to build freeways out to Rio West or anywhere when there is no one out there. But where roads are overburdened and there is need we should not be opposed to road improvements, bridges, or freeways only because we feel we have to draw a line in the sand. This only punishes and can endanger the local residents and businesses that must live and operate within the affected area. In the end this tactic never works. Growth will happen. The way to deal with it is to actively manage it and channel it to where you are ready for it to go.
As we all get a chuckle out of Albuquerque's 'heavy' traffic problem my concern is that Albuquerque may ignore the issue like Phoenix. Phoenix could have dealt with the problem as it was beginning instead of the protracted process it ended up becoming that caused a decade + of problems for commerce and residents. Mortimer is right on about now being the time to plan for future transportation. Plan it now when cities have options available to them. Whether road, rail, or other you need to have something that can be built to help your existing problems and added to as time requires. Don't do what Phoenix did. Don't ignore the issue for years until its a massive problem and have yet to spend 5 years to approve a plan and spend another 5 years to fund and build it.
Has anyone else noticed the yellow traffic lights getting shorter and shorter? The construction in Bernalillo is unbearable! I swear the light was green and we were all going and I look again and it was red! IF there was a yellow portion to that light it was the shortest yellow light in the history of yellow lights. I got in an accident because there was NO time to stop; luckily I wasn't going that fast but there is a big problem here! Has anyone else noticed the construction interfering with the light cycle? I would be really interested in the normal length of a yellow light and the length of ones around here.
All the traffic and congestion causes me to shake my head sadly in wonder and astonishment. Whenever I think of maybe working in Albq or RR, I drive up there during rush times and sometimes spend hours going all over joining various herds, trying to figure it all out. I actually have mobile timing equipment I purchased in a past period in my life and lots of extra time to use it. Have done so in many various areas and situations, doing studies on timing, distance and seconds needed for practical movement, the kind of stuff everyone thinks of doing, but no one seems to do. The data is really interesting, have spoken to officials but unfortunately no one seems to care. There is no respect left for the city planners or traffic engineers who set or ignore light timing at various times and conditions and the choking madness, all in the name of commerce. And I really despise the big collector lights herding us together like mindless lumps of cattle and move us slowly along, not caring that the lack of logic or common sense wastes irreplaceable time in people's lives and gas, all for nothing..
I too believe that the problem with traffic is that the lights are totally not in sync. When the new expanded road is opened, we will still have the problem with the lights not being in sync. During the heavy traffic hours, there needs to be an expanded time period for cross traffic getting in the flow. Otherwise, the expansion of the road will not fix the existing problem of lights, lights, lights.
Going thru Bernalillo from I25 to try and get out towards Jemez and Cuba have convinced me that this is one part of New Mexico that I will cross off the list. Can't figure out why in the world anyone would like to live out in those packed suburban subdivisions and have to fight and claw their way back and forth to work each day, through all those cursed lights and the surly masses, probably with the same other drivers each time! Not the New Mexico I had in mind to be a part of when I moved back here.
Just the thought of trying to force and batter my way back into the almost bumper to bumper mess from almost any of the businesses has me want to shop, eat, or stay anywhere but there. Unfortunately, the classic thing will happen if the road is made wider, the folks that tried to avoid the area because of the death grip of traffic will flow back in and the same problems will reappear, just in a grander scale...
A $19 million state and federally funded project is aimed at reducing that congestion by improving traffic flow through the Interstate 25/U.S. 550 interchange. The work will take about eight months and involves; widening U.S. 550 westbound and eastbound, from I-25 to N.M. 313 (Camino del Pueblo), from four to six lanes; widening the U.S. 550 bridge over I-25; local access roads; additional ramps on the corners of the interchange and other improvements.
Soon the Town of Bernalillo will be the owner and operator of the state’s first toll facility called Intercounty Connector (ICC). The Town is providing approximately half of the ICC’s financing and will own, operate and maintain the roadway once construction is complete. Construction is scheduled to start April 1st, 2013 and will be managed by the Department of Transportation. The first 2.55-mile tolled segment of the ICC from US 550/and HWY 528 to Camino del Pueblo (HWY 313) is scheduled to open on January 1st, 2014. Tolls are collected at highway speed as motorists drive under tolling structures. Drivers need to get an E-ZPass. Video tolling is an alternative to E-ZPass, but is not recommended for frequent travelers. Toll facility customers who do not have an E-ZPass and travel the ICC will be sent a bill in the mail and charged the Video Toll Rate (VRT). Resident’s of the Town of Bernalillo will be exempt from toll charges and will be implanted with a microchip that will allow for toll free travel through the ICC. That part scares me a bit...
Thanks for the inter-county connector info, Rich. I'm wondering who would pay money to save maybe 5 minutes going from I-25 to 528. Looks like a project that will provide decent employment and little value.
Thanks for the inter-county connector info, Rich. I'm wondering who would pay money to save maybe 5 minutes going from I-25 to 528. Looks like a project that will provide decent employment and little value.
I don't know. I would try it just for the ride/experience...
Rich
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