Here’s the scenario: Somebody gives you/us $3 million to fix up any ~1,600 feet of roadway in the city/county with the goal to:

“Improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety and increase tree canopy coverage in order to improve
connectivity and revitalize the commercial aspect of the area.”

Which ~1,600 feet of roadway would you pick? If this was somehow first in a series of $3 million windfalls, what would be the very first stretch of road you’d pick, knowing that, as always, windfalls don’t tend to last very long?

Would it most likely be the ~1,600 feet pretty much right in front of your house? Be honest, as we dive a bit into the proposed “Girard Streetscape Improvements” project, which as I understand it, hasn’t changed much from this slide deck in Summer 2022.

To make the job easier for your eyes, what we’re talking about here is fixing up Girard Blvd. N.E. between Hannett and that funky little split it does approaching Indian School Rd. N.E. I think I speak for everyone when I say the first time I came across this bit of roadway funkiness (1993) my first thought was, “Why the Hell did they do that?”

I chalked it up to the power of tennis circa-1993 at the time, what with the Albuquerque Pickleball Tennis Club sitting across from where what I’ll call the straight part of Girard ends. But going back to the 1959 aerial view, that “Girard Ct.” thing was already in place back then when the area was pretty much just East Mesa sand.

I haven’t been able to find out what that tiny building amid a bunch of sand was back in ’59. Today it’s the Tennis Club.

Getting back to the proprosed improvements, let’s elaborate a bit on what’s planned.

With three proposed sections in ~1,600, let’s waste less of your time by focusing on the funky bit called “Girard Court.”

As is true for all project sections, the bulk of the $3 million is what is proposed to spent on new curb, widened sidewalks and flattened bumpy sidewalks and out of ADA-compliance driveways. The rest is pretty much new trees and striping.

And yes, as you see above, Girard Court is to get six new on-street parking spaces. Amid a bunch of multi-modal friendliness project-wide, that proposed car storage does stick out in its antiquated car-centeredness. Evidently, the car storage is designed to reinvigorate long-moribund business development, the thought being that if six drivers could walk seventeen feet from their cars, Alpine Sausage wouldn’t have closed some time back and we’d still be having poetry slam at the Blue Dragon instead of it closing about 20 years ago.

One reason to focus on Girard Court in the proposed improvement is that its funkiness is pretty much the reason for the proposal. If Girard hadn’t been weirdly engineered way back, a solo Girard intersection at Indian School would be engineered as per normal, with all the positives and negatives “normal” implies. And one wonders if we’d be talking about anything approaching $3 million or even $1 in “Girard Streetscape Improvements” sans funkiness.

And the community proponents who have gotten together to push this idea along, “North Campus, Netherwood Park, and Summit Park Neighborhood Associations and (former) City Councilor Isaac Benton” are to be commended for taking that funkiness and turning it into a proposal improving another ~1,250 feet of Girard while sprucing up the funky.

And nobody wants to spruce up the funky more than Better Burque. But let’s really make Girard Court funky. Let’s James Brown and the Famous Flames this son-of-a-bitch!

In short: Just close Girard Court to vehicles and make it a pedestrian mall. Combined with new businesses incorporating the car-free condition with outside dining, etc., my guess is that far more folks are gonna visit what results than, for instance, the six drivers who would store their car in those new parking spaces.

A pedestrian mall would also eliminate what is and will continue to be the most dangerous aspect, the angled intersection at Girard Court and Indian School. No intersection, no traffic light, no drivers going, e.g., too fast westbound on Indian School making that dangerously funky angle-turn onto Girard Court.

In summation, to quote the bard, let’s “Get On the Good Foot” and have folks stepping free and funky right down the middle of formerly dangerous Girard Court.

Getting back to our initial questions:

Which ~1,600 feet of roadway would you pick? If this was somehow first in a series of $3 million windfalls, what would be the very first stretch of road you’d pick, knowing that, as always, windfalls don’t tend to last very long?

and

Would it most likely be the ~1,600 feet pretty much right in front of your house?

Personally, and I say this as someone who lives about 10 miles from the proposed project, I would not have picked this particular stretch of road to get $3 million first. Or second. Or 47th. There are so many places around town/county far more dangerous to ride/walk/do anything and an almost infinite number of roadway stretches that could use some trees and widened sidewalks.

That said, I got nothing against the community members who have gotten together to propose these improvements, which are currently at roughly the 60% stage in the 30%/60%/90%/done timeline employed for such work. You go with your funky selves, North Campus, Netherwood Park, and Summit Park Neighborhood Associations and (former) City Councilor Isaac Benton. More power to you.

I just hope at least 47 other such community groups get together around town/county and push through similar/better proposals after having first asked the question: “Hey, where’s our $3 million dollars?”