The Albuquerque City Council voted 7-2 Monday night to approve the mayor’s $120 million bus-transit plan that will bring big changes to Central Avenue, aka Route 66.
The vote came after a “noisy” four-hour debate, reported the Albuquerque Journal. Supporters of the project were in the minority at city hall.
Councilors Dan Lewis and Klarissa Pena voted against the proposal. Ken Sanchez, Isaac Benton, Pat Davis, Diane Gibson, Brad Winter, Trudy Jones and Don Harris voted for it. Proponents and opponents on the council didn’t fall neatly under Republican and Democratic lines. They split almost 50/50. Mayor Richard Berry is a Republican.
Dozens of Central Avenue businesses opposed it, fearing disruptive construction and fewer lanes for automobiles would reduce customers’ spending. Their opposition culminated with the Save Route 66 Central group.
The resolution Monday was contingent on the city receiving a $70 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration, plus another $31 million in available federal funds.
In short, Albuquerque Rapid Transit would dedicate two center lanes of Central Avenue for buses and stations, leaving one lane each side for regular traffic. Berry says ART is needed because millennials and national investors want high-density, transit-rich cities. Albuquerque ranks low nationally in that aspect, which ART aims to solve.
This excerpt shows from the Journal how divided residents of the Duke City were:
Charles Hickam, who owns a home three blocks from a proposed ART station, called the project a “utopian boondoggle” that won’t result in the benefits promised by the mayor.
Some critics said they liked the idea in general, but not the design of running the bus down the middle of the street, which limits the ability of other drivers to make left turns from Central.
Supporters have made economic development a key part of their argument. Mayor Berry and others say the new bus system would link major employers and attractions along the old Route 66 and spur denser development.
They also say the project will bring wider sidewalks and new landscaping to much of Central Avenue, making the area more friendly to pedestrians.
If federal funding comes through, as expected, construction will begin in May, with ART finished by September 2017.
As I’ve written before, I remain skeptical ART will be as successful as Berry claims it will. But I’m not 100 percent certain my skepticism will prove right.
Basically, Central Avenue will become a guinea pig on the effect of dedicating much of its lanes to rapid transit.
Perhaps it will be a big success, and Berry will go down in the history books as a visionary.
Or it will fail, and ART instead will be called Berry’s Folly.
(An artist’s rendering of an Albuquerque Rapid Transit station in Nob Hill)
This is why we have trillion dollar deficits …..