Five years ago, the city of Albuquerque retreated from one of its great urbanism experiments by closing the Fourth Street pedestrian mall, returning this quiet little street south of city hall to cars. It was frankly, as news reports at the time acknowledged, a clumsy policy response to the fact that the two block pedestrian… Read More On Albuquerque’s Fourth Street, a fake homeless camp
A group of local pedestrian/bicycle advocates last night on Twitter engaged in a cathartic group rant, with pictures included, of places where Albuquerque’s pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure is terrible. It was accompanied by a running commentary of a common form: “Why don’t they just do X?”, where X is the obvious thing, like including a… Read More “Why don’t they just do X?”
My sister, Lisa, and I were puzzling a question Saturday – why isn’t there an Albuquerque “Summerfest” event on East Central? We were eating our usual Saturday breakfast at Kap’s Diner, at the corner of Alvarado and Central a couple of blocks east of San Mateo. To the west is the Tewa Lodge, one of the… Read More What are Albuquerque’s public spaces for, and for whom?
The above graphic was one of many interesting observations and ideas expressed at the #Moveequity Tweetchat held this past Wednesday. Issues of environmental and health justice are important everywhere, Burque included. One can’t help but see the figures on sidewalks and street lighting above and tie it into our discussion this week on the intersection of… Read More Solving Bike/Ped Safety Equity: Zuni Rd. S.E. as Example
Two days ago, Better Burque started a closer look at the scheduled improvements for the intersection of Coors & Blake in the South Valley. Before we wade further into the matter, readers might want to catch up with those earlier posts, but one quick way to sum up the proposed project is that it does a good-to-great… Read More Better Solutions at Coors & Blake, Finale: Fitting a New Reality
Note: BB wrote yesterday that our next post would be one offering solutions on the currently problematic plans to “improve” the intersection of Coors Blvd. & Blake Rd. S.W., and its immediate roadway environs. We’ll get to that one, using today’s post as a bit of a pedagogical springboard. Apologies for the misdirection, but check this… Read More Build Yourself a Mother of a Road: Central at Tulane
When does a highway become a street? When does a thoroughfare to somewhere else become a place to “shop-and-stroll”? Questions such as these might not seem germane when talking about the project to improve the Coors & Blake intersection and roadway immediately adjacent, and putting the term “shop-and-stroll” within the same metaphorical area code patently ludicrous.… Read More Better Solutions at Coors & Blake, Part I: What is Currently Planned
