Depending on their destination, some villagers fight rush hour traffic along Alameda Boulevard to get across the river and on to the freeway while others make their way along North Coors to access to Interstate 40.

Some switched their commuting pattern once the Coors/I-40 interchange was completed a few years ago.

Now the City of Albuquerque has initiated a revision, or update, to the Coors Corridor Plan adopted in the early 1980s. A presentation by the City’s consulting firm, D. Pennington & Associates, was given at the Taylor Ranch Community Center February 24. More public meetings on the plan update will be scheduled.

At issue is what strategies will be implemented over the next 20 years to keep North Coors functioning well as the west side’s main transportation corridor.

The study area runs from Bridge Boulevard to Alameda Boulevard and incudes Coors Bypass around Cottonwood Mall.

The planning consultants note, “Within the next 20 years, congestion is projected to be widespread and severe. Coors is the major north-south street used by commuters to access the six river crossings within the study area.

“Consequently Coors is likely to experience significant future congestion. The Coors Corridor Plan Update will evaluate future congestion and mobility problems and will identify and evaluate different transportation investments and strategies to best serve the needs of westside commuters and residents.

“Alternatives considered will include roadway widening options, access management strategies, enhanced transit service, transportation management systems, bicycle and pedestrian improvements and others identified by the project team and community.”

To learn more about North Coors problems and possibilities, contact one of the following: Richard Costales in the Albuquerque Municipal Development Department at 768-2774; David Pennington, the consultant, at 884-0667; or Chris Baca, vector engineer, at 341-9393. 

As the existing plan was being developed in the early 1980s, primary concerns were how to maintain scenery of the valley and mountains during drive time along North Coors (restrict the height of buildings allowed and setbacks from the roadway) and limit the number of access points (driveways) onto Coors that would create bumper-to-bumper traffic build-up.

(See Corrales Comment series Vol.IV, No.9, 10 & 11, July 20, August 10 and August 24, 1985 “Is Coors Becoming Another Menaul?)

Development along North Coors was supposed to be restricted so that it established a new, better pattern than that implemented in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights. “The Coors Corridor is an example of what we would like to do in other areas of Albuquerque,” the director of planning for the city, Jack Leaman,  told Corrales Comment back in 1985. “So we’re watching it as an experiment. The way things are going so far, some of the developments I’m pleased with and others I’m not pleased with.”

He and others wanted to make North Coors truly sensitive to environmental concerns and quality of life issues. Preserving the scenic views of the Rio Grande bosque  on the east and the volcanos and escarpment on the west were to be a top priority, along with keeping traffic moving smoothly.

Albuquerque’s Northwest Mesa Area Plan adopted in 1980 called for Coors to be “a limited access parkway” meaning a “park-like landscaped arterial.” But almost from the beginning, commercial developers had other ideas… ideas for which Menaul Boulevard would have been more appropriate. 

One of the early battles was over the location and spacing of left-turn lanes along what was supposed to b a limited access parkway. When the medians went in with relatively closely-spaced turning lanes, it looked like commercial interests had won.

Even so, when Montano Plaza went it, you could still see the bosque over the tops of that shopping center; developers had been true to their word not to block off the view of the woods behind them.

Over the years, more and more compromises came as developers were approved for view-blocking structures up close to the road.