ABQ ranked 36 worst city for traffic congestion

Do you want more of this in your city?






Neither do we.

Here at SWOP we have long advocated for:

* A clean environment in which to raise our families &
* A Smart Planned Growth Strategy for Albuquerque's West Side

I must admit, I live on the West Side, and I really like our community. But I would love it even more if we could have amenities like other communities do. Four years ago, we were the last street in the Southwest Heights ("make a right where the street ends" were the directions we gave our friends to get to our house"). Now there are tracks and tracks of homes that almost appear to hit the mesa, and it's close to getting there.

We moved there because it was affordable, and we needed a bigger house because we were starting a family. But now I realize why it was so affordable: No amenities, poorly planned roads, poorly maintained roads, broken traffic lights, no libraries, no parks, no community centers....you get the picture. I cannot help but get the picture. The selling point was, "oh but there will be." Although some parks have been built, we have yet to see the others realized. And it's becoming more and more time consuming getting to and from our house to our jobs across town.

A study just came out on Tuesday in the Santa Fe New Mexican that ranked Albuquerque 36th for its traffic congestion. ABQ drivers are delayed an average of 33 hours a year (almost a full work week). Ten years ago we were 30th.

This means that the drivers in the metro area, such as myself, have wasted an average of 21 gallons of fuel each year because of travel delays.

In Los Angeles, a metropolitan area with more than 12.9 million people, drivers are delayed 72 hours a year. How is it that in the Albuquerque metropolitan area we are at half that delay with only 800,000 people! That's outrageous!

This clearly shows that our city has not had the foresight for proper public transit oriented planning.

Along with the delays and consequent impacts on our standard of living, this unplanned urban sprawl is destroying our environment. One of the primary connections we make, along with many many others, is that urban sprawl and its associated high automobile gas emissions is a major detriment to our climate change crisis.

Despite what certain sectors of our community would have folks believe, we know that growth is going to happen. We can't change the fact that our population size is going to become much bigger. But we can plan for that increase in size in a way that protects our environment and that doesn't force people to spend unnecessary hours on end in their cars. As a city, we have a responsibility to insist that those (developers) who build the future neighborhoods of tomorrow do so with our water, land, air, and health in mind. A central question should be how we plan our city in a way that places the future of our climate (literally the ability of us to perpetuate our species) and the health of our families at the core.

It's time we stopped letting developers pressure our elected officials to permit this uncontrolled sprawl happening on ABQ's west side. A moratorium needs to be put in place immediately before any more high rollers come into our state and sell off tracts of homes without planning for the future of our environment.

We currently have two massive master planned developments in the works, Mesa del Sol in the south and the Suncal Corporation designs in the west. Both will get massive tax subsidies from us, the public. There are major issues involved with both of these developments that will impact the future of our city in a major way.

Currently, the Suncal developers are arguing that what they are planning is "sustainable" and that we should all jump on board with what their plans are. But let's be very clear: the Suncal development is a HUGE development that overlaps both the City and County, in an area that is completely undeveloped at the moment. It's crucial that it meet our needs as a city, and it isn't enough for Suncal to just expect us to take their word for how it will be developed.

That would be pretty silly actually. We need ordinances in place that require certain amenities in all future developments, period, especially those in which we are giving public tax money to corporations.

We're calling for a moratorium and proper community based planning that is transit oriented for all new development. Not to mention our need for workforce housing, small business, parks and permanent schools. In short all the things that makes life livable for our communities.

We support our city councilors who fight to negotiate development plans that are appropriate for our city.

Hopefully, in the future we won't be shamed when studies come out showing that we're competing with LA when it comes polluting our earth.

Oh, and by the way, in addition to being a victim of the unplanned development on the west side, I grew up in LA and in LA traffic, so I know what I'm talking about.

Thanks to Marjorie for editing this post! :)