Juan Tabo to Eubank Multi-Use Trail
Background
This project’s goal is to identify a more direct connection between the Juan Tabo Hills neighborhood and Eubank Boulevard. Many residents of this growing neighborhood work on Kirtland Air Force Base (KAFB) or at Sandia National Laboratories. Yet currently, there are no direct east-west connections between Juan Tabo Boulevard and Eubank Boulevard south of Southern Boulevard. The lack of a direct east-west connection between the neighborhood and the base gate requires base employees to take a circuitous route along main roadways or leads many of them to cut-through other residential neighborhoods, such as the Willow Wood neighborhood, that are located between Juan Tabo Hills and KAFB. The resulting traffic patterns are thought to contribute to congestion on the main roads, such as Juan Tabo Boulevard and Southern Bouelvard, or contribute to speeding and high volumes along residential roads within the corridor. The problems are likely to worsen in the near future when the additional homes are completed as part of the Juan Tabo Hills West development, located west of the current subdivision.
This study will document the existing traffic conditions resulting from commuting patterns of Juan Tabo Hills residents and evaluate potential alternative connections to improve these conditions.
Challenges to developing such a connection include constraints such as existing development (including the South Pointe Village and Willow Wood neighborhoods), topographical and hydrological challenges related to Tijeras Arroyo, and the boundaries of KAFB. To fully understand the issues and opportunities available, the project team analyzed conditions within a Study Area that includes the Juan Tabo Hills neighborhood and the roads that currently facilitate connections between the neighborhood and the Eubank Gate of KAFB. The Study Area extends from Eubank Boulevard and the KAFB boundary in the west to Juan Tabo Boulevard and the Juan Tabo Hills neighborhood in the east. North-to-south, the Study Area extends from Southern Boulevard to the southern edge of Juan Tabo Hills and the KAFB boundary.
Final Report
The Juan Tabo Connectivity Study Final Report is available here. This report will be adopted via resolution, and the bill is available here. The bill will first be heard by the Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee of the City Council on April 14th, before adoption by the full Council. The report considered 5 different alternatives, plus a no-build alternative. In assessing each of the alternatives the project team met with stakeholders and the public and considered various existing conditions. The 5 alternatives plus the no-build were scored on the following criteria:
- Traffic
- Cut-Through
- Safety
- Utilities
- Right-Of-Way
- Cost
- Development
- Bio-Zone
- Landfill
The report concluded that none of the five roadway alternatives scored higher than the No-Build Alternative and recommended that if the No-Build Alternative is selected to move forward, the following list of possible projects could be considered to improve the study area:
- Improve existing infrastructure – the existing roadway network can be analyzed, and improvements can be identified to increase the capacity.
- Multi-use path – construct a multi-use path instead of a roadway to create a direct walking/biking route from Juan Tabo Boulevard to Eubank Boulevard.
- Transit – work with ABQRide to add transit stops along Juan Tabo Boulevard and takes riders to Eubank Boulevard.
- Ride-Share Program – work with KAFB and Sandia National Labs to implement a ride-share program to carpool to work.
NTMP Willow Wood Project – implement the City of Albuquerque Neighborhood Traffic Management Program project that looked at diverting cut-through traffic from the Willow Wood Community. The project analyzed different alternatives one being the vacation of right-of-way and installing a gate at Tony Sanchez and Gibson Boulevard.
Virtual Public Meetings 1 & 2
The first public meeting was held via GoToWebinar on Tuesday December 1st at 6:00 p.m. and the second public meeting was held via GoToWebinar on Tuesday January 19th, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. At the first public meeting the existing conditions were presented to the community and stakeholders and the potential alternatives to be analyzed during the subsequent weeks were also presented. At the second public meeting the analysis and ranking of the alternatives were presented to the community and stakeholders.
The slides from the two presentations are available below. In addition, the audio of the presentations and the subsequent question & answer sessions are also available below:
Virtual Meeting 1
Virtual Meeting 2
Contacts:
Petra Morris, Council Planning Manager, [email protected]