Red light cameras to go dark at 12 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Albuquerque red light camera intersections will go dark at midnight on Monday. The city of Albuquerque's contract with Red-Flex, the company that's been operating the cameras since the beginning, will expire.

The city hopes to get a contract extension with Red-Flex in the meantime, but will put the job out for bid in the coming weeks.

An in-depth study conducted by the University of New Mexico at the city's request on the program has prompted changes by Mayor Richard J. Berry. The mayor wants to keep the controversial program but with restrictions and changes.

Based on the study, the biggest recommendation from the mayor is that the cameras are no longer going to cite for speed violations. The study showed that rear-end crashes have gone up in the camera-enforced intersections.

The city is also recommending that three more intersections where the cameras have been running also come down, leaving 14 operational.

The following are the intersections that will be in operation:

• Academy and Wyoming
• Central and Eubank
• Menaul and Carlisle
• Coors and Montano
• Coors and Paseo del Norte
• Jefferson and Paseo del Norte

Earlier this year, the state Department of Transportation ordered that three cameras be shut off since they were on state highways, not city streets, in Albuquerque.

The city also said that the study proved a number of traffic-engineering improvements have to be made at the camera intersections throughout the city.

"If we're going to keep the program, we've got to keep the components of the program that are shown to make it safer," Berry said Monday. "I have a hard time looking somebody in the eye saying I'm going to get rid of a program that keeps your intersection safer.

"At the same time, if we're going to be data-driven, I have a hard time looking at the next individual and saying we're going to keep an intersection going that's made your neighborhood less safe."

The mayor also said for the program to continue, it'll have to be fixed financially. As it stands right now, the study shows the program has been operating on a $30,000-a-month deficit.

The city wants the program to operate with full public disclosure from now on. The public can monitor the lights at on the city of Albuquerque website.