City looks to revamp Girard in SE ABQ

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The city has set its sights on overhauling a popular three mile stretch of road that runs through the heart of Albuquerque.

Neighbors have long complained about the speeding and lack of parking.

The city and people who live along Girard will say there is no easy fix but they will also say something has to be done.

"Going across the street to talk to our neighbor is taking our life in our hands,” Myrna Calkins said.

The stretch from Coal to Gibson has seen quite a few crashes, some are even fatal.

"He went through my front yard and hit, we had three cottonwood trees at that point and hit one of them head on and it killed him,” Sherman Wilcox said.

Neighbors say the common denominator in most of the crashes was speed.

It is a problem they have brought to the city over and over.

They have also suggested some potential solutions.

"I think it would be quite beneficial if we could put a four way stop sign here at San Joaquin and a four stop sign at Monterey,” Chris Fairchild with the Victory Hills Neighborhood Association said.

The city is now listening working on a plan for Girard from Indian School past UNM all the way to Gibson, a three mile stretch.

"I want to make sure that everybody understands this is not a done deal,” City Councilor Rey Garduno said. “No one has the exact perfect solution right now.. But we certainly are working toward that.”

Some of the suggestions are narrowing stretches of the boulevard to put in wider sidewalks, bike lanes and more street parking to slow drivers down.

"It will be done in phases so that no one is affected completely for the entire period of time," Garduno said.

Neighbors say whatever the city does it needs to do it fast.

"It has just gotten out of hand…I'm not sure how we can go about stopping it quickly,” Calkins said.

There have been a number of community meetings about this already and the city says they have been well attended.

There will be two more meetings before the plans are finalized and they encourage anyone who lives along Girard to come and share their ideas.

Councilor Garduno says they hope to have firm plans in place by next spring and construction underway maybe by next summer.