That Louisiana Blvd. Road-Diet: Why isn’t it being replicated more broadly/often?

My ebike and I rode up and down Louisiana Blvd. between Gibson and Central a week or so ago. For the first time ever. Because who in their right mind would ride any kind of bike on this stretch of Louisiana?

Louisiana Blvd. southbound at Ross back in June 2016. At this crossingAngelica Baca was killed by a hyper-speeding AFB dude while waiting in the continuous turn lane to continue crossing

I’m not saying it’s a multi-modal transportation nirvana now, but the City has “road dieted” Louisiana so that roughly the same crossing looks like this:

A bike lane buffer and some “physical separation” (plastic bumps and poles) southbound across from what is now called the “Loop Apartments” just north of that Ross SE intersection.
A tad north looking southbound across from Van Buren Middle School

The City, after a very long process including a federal Road Safety Audit (TL:DR, it isn’t safe) and a pandemic, spent $1 million “road dieting” this raceway stretch from Gibson/KAFB north to the Mother Road. Here’s a look northbound at those “Loop Apartments” at/near Ross.

For $1 million, we get some green paint, striping, and little rubber bulb-out diverters. It’s a pretty lo-fi project that notably does not include curb/sidewalk work…and we still get that pot hole you see lovingly covered with “kermit” (green paint) in the bike lane.

Will I ride this stretch of Louisiana again? Maybe.

Is the biggest improvement probably the de facto pedestrian buffer created by the bike lane, especially as the sidewalks weren’t widened and are pretty sucky in several spots? Yes.

Then there’s little things like this:

Northbound at Van Buren MS

Why isn’t there physical separation at Van Buren, particularly given there’s no driveway all the way to the intersection at Southern SE? Having such separation for kids walking to school, for example, seems a no-brainer, but for $1 million we don’t get that.

In conclusion, BB’s verdict of these long-awaited and often City-heralded improvements is a resounding it’s okay, I guess. Verging on “meh.”

That’s not to say I’m unhappy the project happened. What I’m most unhappy about is:

  1. It took so long to do this one lo-fi job.
  2. The City can’t stop congratulating itself on this okay but nothing special job and seems to consider its Vision Zero work consummated with this one project amid a area-wide hellsape of Vision Far More than Zero (VFMZ).

For example, looking at the final FY2025 City of Albuquerque budget, one finds the following on page 222.

So from 13 actual Vision Zero projects in FY2023 we shot for another 13 in FY2024 and it is estimated that we will achieve only 2. And following that stellar failure, now we’re only proposing 4 in FY2025? While the number of those killed trying to use our roadways continues very much Vision Far More than Zero?

That’s not acceptable and there’s should be at least 10 projects, lo-fi or otherwise, such as the one along Louisiana EVERY year until we’ve made sizable inroads toward zero traffic deaths. Anything less is truthfully admitting defeat while falsely claiming victory via dumb press releases such as this.

4 thoughts on “That Louisiana Blvd. Road-Diet: Why isn’t it being replicated more broadly/often?”

  1. Better late than never. As one who used to ride this section of Louisiana on a semi-regular basis (in a high state of stress), this one gets a golf course clap and some sincere hope it will serve as a model for other projects that enhance safety for walkers & human-powered conveyances

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  2. I was so excited when the city announced a buffered bike lane on Louisiana. And so disappointed when they said it extended the full half mile from Gibson to Katherine. Still, as you said, better than it was.

    I’m just keeping my fingers crossed for a continuous bike lane on San Pedro from Gibson to Osuna some day. (Crossing Menaul is such a chore anywhere between Washington and Pennsylvania.)

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  3. It still looks pretty terrifying, tbh. I am in the nearby of that and am not motivated to go try it out.

    I’ll give them points for effort on the buffered part; it looks nice but people drive too fast there for that to be enough.

    I bought a bike last spring and am ever so slowly adjusting my comfort zone but for someone who just wants to tootle around at grandma speeds, take pictures, and get some fresh air, it still feels awfully dangerous out there.

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    1. Thanks for the comment; I wonder if San Pedro being made safer might be a better choice for you/everybody. Drivers definitely seem to be a bit more sane there and there’s already bike infrastructure to further improve upon.

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