Confused about the construction on Lead and Coal avenues? You aren’t the only one.
The roads are undergoing an 18-month-long overhaul. The construction has been in the works since about 1989, said Mark Motsko, the City’s Municipal Development spokesman.
“We have had the neighborhoods in the Lead and Coal corridor asking the city for help with making it feel more like a neighborhood and less like a speedway,” he said. “So finally, now after 20 years, we are actually doing that.”
Student Joe Buffaloe, who lives in the area, said the construction is an inconvenience.
“I don’t think anyone in the neighborhood wants it to happen,” he said. “It is absolutely not worth it. There are so many better things that they could be doing with that money. They are taking something that works really well and spending a bunch of money to make it worse.”
Student Noel Blair said road blocks preventing left-hand turns are a major inconvenience.
“Any time I want to go one way, I have to go all the way around to get back into my apartment,” she said. “It is very inconvenient in general, and I don’t understand why they are doing it.”
The barricades prevent traffic congestion, Motsko said.
“We understand that there is frustration, but ultimately it will save more time for everyone if you make three lefts instead of a right, or a couple rights instead of a left,” he said. “If you are going west on Lead and you want to make a left turn across traffic, you are going to back the traffic up because the streets are still carrying thousands of vehicles every day.”
What exactly the construction is improving has not been effectively communicated, Buffaloe said.
“I don’t even know what the final plan is — nothing was ever said about it,” he said. “It’s all rumor and conjecture. I have heard that they are taking both of them to one lane. I have heard making both of them a two-way. I have no idea. I have heard that it is to expand the bike lane.”
The two-way modification is temporary, Motsko said, and Lead Avenue will remain an eastbound street as Coal Avenue will head westbound. He said construction will widen sidewalks and create a bike lane, in addition to landscaping improvements and storm drainage upgrades.
“We all know what happens when it rains around here,” Motsko said.
Despite that, Buffaloe said, Albuquerque’s constant construction is frustrating.
“Lead and Coal are really two of the only roads that are really functional and really act like the city wants you to get to places quickly,” he said. “Right now we have no good roads to get anywhere quickly or conveniently. Everything seems like its constructed just to make things take longer.”
