City, county announce plan for improvements to Coors Boulevard

BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. – Bernalillo County officials say a stretch of Coors from Blake Road to Gun Club is in need of improvements.

“We got a federal grant in the amount of $6.3 million as part of the Safe Streets for All – part of that grant there was some matching funds that the county, city and state are also contributing so it brings the total value of the project to $8 million,” said Brian Lopez, a technical services director for Bernalillo County.

Lopez says reducing or even eliminating pedestrian crashes and fatalities is no small task. The current conditions are forcing people to put themselves in danger just to get from point A to point B.

“In the existing condition the roadway is lacking a lot of the features we feel are needed such as sidewalks, bike lanes, lighting and whatnot,” said Lopez. 

Bernalillo County will be adding these safety features along with adding crosswalks. Right now, there are only four crossings along the corridor, each nearly a quarter mile apart. 

“Based on that distance, people are not likely to walk to the approved crossings and just kind of cross where they feel they would like,” Lopez said. 

Just one of the contributing factors to this deadly stretch of road.

“A lot of the design and construction is going to be based on a recent audit that the Department of Transportation recently completed,” said Lopez. 

He said the county worked alongside NMDOT to gather crash report data.