Here’s something to lift spirits on what has definitely been a tough week or two on the non-motorized roadway front in good ‘ol Burque. Remember those far too skinny bike lanes on Girard Blvd. from Lomas to near Indian School done as part of Girard’s “Complete Street” restriping?

Well, as announced some weeks back by the City of Albuquerque and its Department of Municipal Development (DMD), the skinny bike lanes are being restriped. For the better.

Huzzah!

Here’s what it looks like so far (Friday, 3.30.18 at about 11:00 a.m.):

You might not be impressed yet; in fact, you might be saying “Scot, there’s no bike lane there whatsoever.” Well, first those DMD-contracted Highway Supply Co. folks come out in a water truck like this:

and evidently spray the absolute bejeezus out of the road, more specifically the existent thermoplastic striping. After drying, it looks something like this:

Note the dashed line above indicating where the new, wider bike lane stripe is to go. There also this interim phase before restriping involving those white tags you see:

You know those tags that make you think they’re going to stripe it one way, and then they don’t stripe it that way? I’ll be honest, I’ve never quite figured out what those tags are about, although it would be really nice if they indicated where new pavement is going to go to smooth out the little paving variation along the old bike lane stripe. But I digress…

The important and great news here is that DMD and the City are fixing what was wrong, and doing so as soon as the weather warmed enough for the thermoplastic to properly adhere to the road surface. Big thanks to DMD for correcting the earlier work; doing so  puts a needed smile on the face of a non-motorized roadway community that could definitely use some good news.

Thanks! And have a good weekend, everybody, DMD and those contracted Highway Supply Co. folks included.