Let’s take a Better Burque Holiday break from pointing out the substandard, inadequate, and just plain wrong, and instead crow triumphantly about two very cool non-motorized transportation developments in our fair city.
Brand New Pavement!
Work looks about 99% complete along the east side of the Corrales Main Canal between Eagle Ranch and SIPI Road. Part of the oft-discussed (and yes, oft-criticized) 50-Mile Activity Loop, this short stretch was the only unpaved section. Riders, joggers, and walkers were out in force here yesterday, and all on this stretch were smiling broadly (especially the cyclists).
Non-Motorized Traffic Counters!
This past October, City of Albuquerque Parks & Recreation installed five non-motorized transport counters on/under popular walking/jogging/running/cycling spots around town. Pictured above is one such counter (note bollard-looking device and tell-tale double-diamond of sensor placed into the pavement), located between Central and entrance to Tingley Beach on the Bosque Trail.
One feature of this particular unit is that it distinguishes between walkers/joggers/runners and cyclists. Information is still being calibrated at this writing, but the plan is to have a webpage up and running (something like this) with on-going counts for nerds like you, and me, to obsessively check every day, if not every hour. If you’re interested in costs and other technological details, here’s a proposal to the City of Missoula for installation of one such counter there.
On this excellent and fair Holiday morning, while it would be fun to guess what the counts might be on both the Bosque Trail and along the Corrales Main Canal’s spanking-new pavement, it’s more fun to actually walk/jog/run/cycle over these new features. Many, many times.
Hope to see you out there today. Remember, we count.
Better Burque 
I noticed the north end of the Eagle-Ranch-to-SIPI trail on Thursday during a (motorized) visit to SIPI for a rehearsal, and wondered how far south it went. Your post here answers that. I’ve put this segment into OpenStreetMap and it will eventually appear on OpenCycleMap. Regarding the south end and the 50-mile Loop, I assume that one rides on on Eagle Ranch between Coors and this newly-paved section? How is the crossing of Coors handled, either east-to-west or west-to-east (since the trail on the west side of Coors is on the south side of Eagle Ranch). This area is not part of my regular cycling activity space, or even my regular activity space.
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Ed: To hopefully answer your questions. Yes, riders take a short stretch of Eagle Ranch (about 100 yards or so) from Coors to the Corrales Main. As for the Coors crossing, it’s just about as nasty as ever. No bridge or other separation. I can report the beg button/light does seem to work/give plenty of time to cross. But you’re still crossing Coors Boulevard.
One thing to remember is that the intention is to have riders take the sidewalk/MUP on the south side of Eagle Ranch west of Coors. Riding Eagle Ranch itself west of Coors is far more dangerous than east, imho.
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[…] tracking down the elusive set of new(ish) City of Albuquerque Parks & Recreation bike/ped counters around town (actually, they aren’t that elusive, as they are firmly planted on popular multi-use paths), […]
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