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Yep observe, that is exactly right. Where land is available for developing you'll see building going on. I suspect there is going to be more out 550 also and up 25 North towards Santa Fe. And certainly the building is going on down south in Los Lunas and Belen.
Look at Unser north to 550 as all this developement is going on and yet Unser north is two lanes out there with no freeways, expressways or four lane roads so spraw can happen with or without major roads.
As far as Phoenix's Loop-101 getting more crowded... well when you have a 1000 people a day moving to Phoenix then of course the roads will get worse..
yep we need more roads, more infrastructure and more public transportation!
I'm just off 550 so it is fairly easy for me to get into town. It takes about 25 minutes even in morning traffic to get to the university, Kirtland or downtown. It's only longer when there is an accident etc. But I feel for the people in RR that live farther south because there are no good ways for them -- they either have to take Unser all the way to 40 or drive up 528 to 550 or down 528 to Paseo del Norte and Paseo del Norte is a nightmare in the morning and evening.
If they don't do something about E/W corridors it is only going to get worse.
When my mom first looked at houses here she looked in the West -- out towards Ventana Ranch and even on the weekend the traffic was unbelievable -- only a couple of ways in and out and there weren't even major thoroughfares. It's like a log jam on the West side in several places. So she came North to Enchanted Hills right off of 550 -- boy was that ever a good decision! Much better access to the freeway and to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. So I chose the same general area and I'm glad I followed suit!
p.s. also going to be a great selling point when I put the house up for sale too
Do the Rio Rancho city fathers have a 5 or 10-year master plan? Seems to me that the building going on there is helter skelter in nature and will result in unsavory traffic congestion in the not-too-distant future.
I think there is some long range planning but part of the issue here is working with all the various municipal governments -- county, state, city all working together is always a challenge.
But if they don't do some long term planning, of course the woes will be felt. It won't be the first time though - almost every place I have lived has had problems with long term planning -- people in general are short sighted and don't want to invest in the future if it means their taxes go up or they might have to have some inconenience for a year or two etc.
Well done urban planning is often shot down because of political and money reasons.
I lived in the Phoenix metro area in the '80's. Phoenix thought then as Zoidberg does. If they did not build the roads or freeways then people would not move there. This was the most naive assumption and was completely wrong.
While sprawl is helped or quickened by better roads it is not a requirement. Phoenix stuck it's head in the sand and hoped it would go away. When public outcry forced the city to wake up (10 years too late) it found the bill for freeway and road improvement was 5 to 10 times the cost it would have been had the city addressed it or at least planned for it when the need began.
Phoenix allowed neighborhoods to sprawl without thought to the future population. When they began to build a proper road network they had to buy up miles of existing homes to create the transportation corridors in which to place the freeways. If Rio Rancho and ABQ do not wish to build these freeways now they still must design a transportation corridor map and lay the foundation now so that the land is there when the time comes. And it will come.
Zoidberg mentions that the best thing to do is zone Rio Rancho to assist businesses in moving here or starting here so that people will not drive far to reach their office. Well that is a good and is definately necessary for the city. This is what is good about the coming Downtown development. Businesses will pay taxes to the city which will help afford further civic improvements. However, one city usually does not contain every employee that a large business will employ. Company Officers interested in Rio Rancho as a potential site will want to know that they can get to work in a reasonable time. They will want to know that their employees will get to work; that the company is accessible enough to lure the employees that they will need to hire in the future. They will want to know that a day's work will not be hampered because the tiny ribbon of over-crowded road that leads to their door had an accident on it that morning.
Someone mentioned too that the newly built loops in the Phoenix area were already congested. Do you think that everyone heard there was a new freeway, went out, bought a car and made the time to drive on it simply because it was there? No, no. These cars were already there. If the new loops remained empty after being built that would have been the sign of their failure. Believe it or not but a crowded freeway still moves traffic better than crowded city streets. And you fail to realize that while the thru traffic is on the freeway the city roads are now free to handle the traffic of customers patronizing local businesses. While city roads are congested your customers look elsewhere for other businesses with better access or they may decide not to shop at all. This hurts business, makes locating on congested streets less attractive and brings down property value in areas near such congestion.
Most of us do not think of the success that our roads have on our economy. One of the greatest acts by a President was Dwight Eisenhower's push for the passage of the bill to create our Interstate Highway system. Interstate road quality and ease of transportation have allowed us so many benefits. We can not now imagine our country without them. How many of us can truely understand how poor our economy would be without it and how difficult would be our movement to do the things that we enjoy.
If you will see the transportation problems of Rio Rancho as a microcosm of those that faced our national roads in the 1950's then you will favor the complete and planned effort that Eisenhower spoke of in a speech for the bill's passage. "If we are ever to solve our mounting traffic problem, the whole Interstate System must be authorized as one project, to be completed approximately within the specified time. Only in this way can the required planning and engineering be accomplished without the confusion and waste [that is] unavoidable in a piecemeal approach."
Rio Rancho, Albuquerque and the entire metro area need to fully understand that the issue of roads and growth are inter-mixed. Growth is good. Growth is money to do the things we need. Even conservation and preservation can be accomplished by growth; by planning for it and channelling it to where you wish it to go. However, growth can not be stopped by anything but economic depression. And that is not an option that any of us who cherish this country would wish. Therefore accept growth and make it into the best that it can be. It can mean good things & happy things. Don't destroy it, embrace it. It's going to make you proud one day.
Councilor j,
You are correct. A beltway around or through northern sections of Rio Rancho is needed soon and planning needs to be underway now. Not only does Rio Rancho need it but Bernalillo and Albuquerque need it. Right now residents of Rio Rancho flood the streets of both cities on a daily basis to get to work since there is no direct access to a freeway. This is over-taxing these roads by requiring them to handle much more traffic than they were designed to carry besides extending the commute time for others who only crime is they happen to live near Rio Rancho.
Also a freeway would bring in new business and new shoppers as patrons could rely on quick access to Rio Rancho. Who wants to patronize a business in Rio Rancho when its a hassle to get miles back into town to shop there?
Investment now in freeway planning means great profits in the future. We need the planning to begin now so we can begin the many year process of acquiring the Federal and State funding that will be needed for construction.
I'd like to correct Grow's interpretation of my beliefs on the subject.
I do believe that freeways encourage sprawl, but I also believe in setting aside right-of-ways, etc. for 100-year-growth ahead of time.
I personally would like to see a camera at every border crossing that counts the number of out-of-town-registered vehicles (looking at license plates) that cross into Albuquerque every day. Ones that make the trip more than twice a week should count toward a bill that Sandoval county gets every year. (For fairness, cars going the other way can be counted too). That money could be required by law to be spent on major arterial road infrastructure in the northwest quadrant.
Do the Rio Rancho city fathers have a 5 or 10-year master plan? Seems to me that the building going on there is helter skelter in nature and will result in unsavory traffic congestion in the not-too-distant future.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Master Plan (searchable PDF)
BPTMP Complete Map of Recommendations (PDF)
Cabezon Communities Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Campus Centre Master Plan (searchable PDF)
City Center Master Plan (PDF/Word Document/Supplement)
CNM Master Plan (PDF)
Cuesta al Este Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Enchanted Hills Unit 13A and 13B Master Plan (PDF)
Enchanted Hills Commerce Center Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Gateway North and South Development Plan (searchable PDF)
Hidden Hills (North Hills) Development Plan (searchable PDF)
La Plazuela Master Plan (PDF)
Las Fuentes Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Lomas Encantadas Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Mariposa Master Plan (With Amendments) (searchable PDF)
Paradise West Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Paseo Gateway Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Paseo Gateway Land Use and Zoning Map (PDF)
Petroglyph Plaza Master Plan (PDF/Word Document)
Quail Ranch Master Plan Phase I (searchable PDF)
Quail Ranch Master Land Use Map (searchable PDF)
Stonegate Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Tierra Del Oro Conceptual Lot Layout (searchable PDF)
Tierra Del Oro Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Unser Gateway West Master Plan (searchable PDF)
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 07-17-2014 at 11:58 AM..
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