The Boards of EDo and Huning Highland have conditionally supported ART, their main condition being that the new buses would work in mixed-traffic lanes. They would not have dedicated lanes on Central through our neighborhood. Dedicated lanes would increase bus speeds, and take away valuable sidewalk and parking spaces from the 3-lane Central envisioned by the EDo Master Plan.
We continue to fight for a 3-lane Central, as most recently recommended by Jeff Speck in his 2014 Downtown Walkability Analysis.
ABQ Ride, our transit department, consulted with Mr. Speck on their ART design for EDo. We thank them for that. He has made some excellent recommendations to improve the design. We thank him for that. The EDo and Huning Highland Boards have additional recommendations to make Central and ART truly great.
We believe that ART needs to create and serve pedestrian-first neighborhoods, districts, and corridors. If it doesn’t make Albuquerque more pedestrian-friendly, who will ride it?
The City has applied for $80 M in Federal funding for the ART project, which runs for about 10 miles on Central Avenue. A decision is expected early in 2016.
