County Finalizes Trail Plans

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez Journal Staff Writer

Bernalillo County has finished plans for a $1.8 million pedestrian/bike/equestrian trail that will complete a path from the Rio Grande Open Space to the Balloon Fiesta Park along the southern edge of Alameda Boulevard.

Planning began about two years ago for a half-mile trail extension that would fill a gap between Fourth and the North Diversion Channel.

David A lbright, senior transportation manager for the county’s Public Works Division, said the project was requested by community members.

A feasibility study, which cost $85,000, symbolized an effort by county planners to get more input from the community, according to Albright.

“We wanted to hold ourselves accountable in how well we reached people. We tried to involve the entire community,” Albright said. “As a result, the trail is going to be better because it’s going to serve all the community, not just bikers or walkers but people with special needs, as well.”

Albright said the effort took the form of county employees contacting individual business owners, knocking on doors in nearby neighborhoods and other outreach strategies.

The trail will have to cross train tracks and the Edith overpass, and construction is estimated to cost $1.8 million, Albright said.

That won’t happen until an environmental study is finished, which is required because Albright said federal funds will be used through the Mid-Region Council of Governments’ Transportation Improvement Program. The funds are programmed for 2013, but Albright said the county is going to try to move that date up to 2010.

The county paid for the feasibility study and will pay for the environmental analysis, which will come out to $90,000, Albright said. So with the $240,000 budgeted for the final design plus the $1.8 million, the entire project will cost $2.2 million.

Alameda resident Steve Wentworth said he thinks the county spent too much on the feasibility study and could have saved some money scaling it back a bit.

“I and other folks who have heard about the project are astounded at the extreme cost of a relatively simple project,” Wentworth said. “It just seems totally out of whack.”

Wentworth said the community has been waiting a long time for the trail to be built.

“This project should have been part of the original Alameda widening project, which was done years ago, and the state dropped the ball when they didn’t do that,” Wentworth said.

Albright said the project could become part of a larger bike trail system envisioned by MRCOG in its 2030 Metropolitan Transportation Plan.

“One of the reasons this is a regionally significant trail is not just because of the everyday use it will have, but there will also be a direct benefit to the Balloon Fiesta Park, as well,” Albright said.

(c) 2008 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.