Louisiana Boulevard Interventions for Safer Streets

Community members of Albuquerque's International District have worked for decades to make their neighborhood safer for everyone. This story map showcases the community's struggle for safer streets and ways in which the City can respond with intermediate interventions to slow traffic and reduce crashes. These intermediate interventions provide space for collaboration, integration of neighborhood history, culture and art, neighborhood self-determination and long-term safety solutions.

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The City of Albuquerque's  Vision Zero  resolution aims to make streets safe for everyone regardless of age, ability, or travel mode by eliminating all traffic fatalities by 2040. Traffic crashes resulted in 92 fatalities and 5,592 injuries in Albuquerque in 2019 alone, and injury and fatality crashes have increased over the past decade.[i]

Traffic calming interventions increase safety for all road users by reducing vehicle speeds. Slower traffic speed significantly increases the chances of surviving a crash: pedestrians have a 90% chance of surviving a crash with a vehicle moving at 20 mph and only a 20% chance of surviving a crash with a vehicle moving at 40 mph. Vehicle speeds can be reduced by implementing design elements that slow traffic, such as adding medians and pedestrian refuges, reducing the number of travel lanes, and narrowing the roadway by adding curb extensions.

Source: Haley, C. "Traffic Calming Toolkit" 2021

This story map provides guidance and recommendations for implementing interim traffic calming treatments on the Louisiana corridor between Gibson Blvd and Lomas Blvd in the City of Albuquerque. The project will collaborate with the International District Neighborhood residents to evaluate which interventions can best improve neighborhood safety and quality of life. The measures described below can be installed in only a few days, partially by community members, using materials such as street furniture, paint, planters, and moveable barriers. Generally, these intermediate treatments last for one to five years and can be installed in areas with high rates of traffic fatalities to address safety issues while long-term solutions are developed and funding for larger-scale projects is procured.

[i] NMDOT. (2020). 2019 Community Report Albuquerque. Retrieved from  https://gps.unm.edu/gps_assets/tru_data/Crash-Reports/Community-Reports/2019-community-reports/City_Albuquerque.pdf .

Traffic fatalities and injuries to pedestrians in Albuquerque's International District neighborhood have been a major concern for residents for years. In 2020, the City of Albuquerque conducted a Road Safety Audit (RSA) to pinpoint the most dangerous areas along Louisiana Blvd between Gibson Blvd and Lomas Blvd and provide possible intermediate and long term solutions to traffic fatalities and injuries.

Residents of Albuquerque's International District have faced pedestrian safety problems for over a decade. According to a series of articles by KUNM's Marisa DeMarco in 2019, one in five crashes in Bernalillo County happen in this neighborhood; that's 328 pedestrian collisions in five years. The International District Healthy Communities Coalition (IDHCC) have organized residents and voiced their concerns with the City and PNM, both of whom share responsibility for neighborhood street lights. IDHCC leader, Bernadette Hardy, explained to DeMarco that International District residents don't feel safe due to speeding cars, poorly lit crosswalks and broken streetlights, which make it difficult for those on foot to be seen. Most tragic are pedestrian fatalities that have happened in the ID, such as an 8 year old boy in 2017 who was struck by a speeding car while crossing the street. Despite repeated attempts to get street lights repaired, residents in the ID continued to wait. In 2019, IDHCC raised their own money and installed 24 solar street lights in the International District.

Source: KUNM (2019). Broken Streetlights and Pedestrian Deaths in ABQ International District. Retrieved from https://www.kunm.org/post/broken-streetlights-and-pedestrian-deaths-abqs-international-district

Source: Knudsen, Lissa. (2019). New Mexico Community Data Collaborative

Most recently, in May of 2021, Mayor Keller's office announced that the City is installing 150 new streetlights in the International District. The project is scheduled to take 18 months to complete and is being funded by a transportation bond.

Source: KQRE. (2021). New Street Lights Installed in International District. Retrieved from https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/city-of-albuquerque-to-announce-new-street-lights-for-international-district/

After conducting the Road Safety Assessment (RSA) through funding from the Federal Department of Transportation, the City has laid out short- and long- term plans to make International District streets safer for pedestrians by increasing visibility and slowing speeding vehicles. These intermediate-term plans serve as a toolbox for the community to create art, preserve neighborhood identity and make the ID safer for walkers and bikers.

Mid Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MRMPO) is part of the Mid-Region Council of Governments. They have invested heavily in studying traffic safety in service of finding solutions to injuries and fatalities caused by motor vehicles. MRMPO is part of the Vision Zero initiative. They believe that, "humans make mistakes, and roadways and traffic policy should be designed in such a way that inevitable mistakes do not result in severe injuries or fatalities." Below is a video created by CABQ highlighting the importance of prioritizing traffic safety. https://www.mrcog-nm.gov/255/Safety-and-Crashes

While the first priority of these interventions is to improve public safety, they also present opportunities to share stories and values that are important to the community through the integration of history, culture and art. Following are some examples of how other communities have done this.

For more information please contact Erika Robers, Community and Natural Resource Planner with Groundwork Studio NM at erika@groundworkstudionm.com.