ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – Hoping to make Albuquerque’s roads safer and slow drivers down, the city is making changes to traffic signals on Girard and Constitution. They say it’s part of their Vision Zero initiative.”When it was just a regular traffic light that went from green to yellow to red, oftentimes people would just go speeding through the intersection,” said Jerry Goyer who lives near the intersection.
Neighbors say the intersection is known for drivers speeding through but after the city’s changes, everyone driving through will need to come to a complete stop. “When it was just a regular traffic light that went from green to yellow to red, oftentimes people would just go speeding through the intersection,” said Goyer.
Neighbors also say they often see drivers speeding way past the posted 30-mile-an-hour speed limit. “Crossing the street yeah it was a lot of caution was needed, these cars move through this street and this intersection above this speed limit,” said Goyer.
Albuquerque’s Director of Municipal Development, Patrick Montoya says the city hopes to make everyone who shares the road feel safer and is now testing the four-way stop at the intersection. “The goal is to reach no pedestrian fatalities by the year 2040. With New Mexico constantly being ranked at the top and Albuquerque even at the top number of pedestrian accidents and fatalities we need to look at ways to make our intersections and our roadways safer, said Montoya.
The four-way stop was installed earlier this month and while only being up for a few weeks, neighbors say so far it’s given them some peace of mind. “I, as someone who uses this intersection as a pedestrian quite often as well as a driver, like the fact that I can safely cross the intersection without having to worry about people rushing through or running through red lights,” Goyer said.
Montoya says the intersection was specifically chosen because of its heavy foot traffic. “There are a lot of homes that front that street and we were concerned about the capacity of traffic on that road and the speed on that road and the number of accidents,” said Montoya.
Montoya says the four-way signal is not permanent yet. It will stay up for about a year to give the city time to test how it affects traffic. The city is also looking at other areas to expand the program. Including the signal at Girard and Marble.
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