Traffic roundabout causing issues

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The city of Albuquerque's failure to deal with speeding drivers has left residents of a southeastern neighborhood frustrated and warning of impending tragedy.

The problems center around a two-block area beginning at Santa Clara and Columbia Drive, where the city installed a roundabout to slow drivers down, neighbors said. However, drivers merely speed through the traffic calming device, then head east into the neighborhood and race down Santa Clara Avenue between Columbia and Princeton drives causing crashes and plenty of near-misses, they said.

"[It occurs] again and again and again," said resident Ed Williams.

The latest crash occurred earlier this month when a driver ran a stop sign at Princeton Drive and Santa Clara Avenue and crashed into another vehicle, causing it to flip over.

"I heard what I thought was an atomic bomb going off in my neighborhood," said neighbor Stephen Capra. "Children were on this street just a few minutes earlier and they could have been killed."

Neighbors thought a solution was imminent last summer after they hosted City Councilor Ray Garduno at a barbecue and told him of the problem. They suggested installing speed humps, having more police presence or even closing the road altogether. In response, the city dropped the speed limit by five miles an hour, and posted a few "children at play" signs.

Neighbors said that wasn't enough to cure the problem, and that they're frustrated with Garduno.

"We have a city councilor that refused to do anything to help his own neighborhood," Capra said. "He needs to come down here and start dealing with reality."

Said Williams, "Ray Garduno isn't doing anything."

News 13 showed the footage of neighbors complaining to Garduno, and also gave a copy of the complaints to Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry.

"I think government is terrible," Garduno said. "I hate to say that because I'm part of it."

The councilor said he's talking to residents in both the Santa Clara and Princeton area, as well as those who live further away and will be sending out surveys to officially gather feedback.Garduno also said he plans to have a neighborhood meeting at the end of August to gather more information about the problem, and that closing the street, even partially, may be the solution.

"I think we can make a case certainly right now I can make a case that this type of danger should not be allowed to exist," he said.

However, Garduno cautioned that a solution could take time because the wheels of government often turn slowly.

The city's director of municipal development said that if the fire department and police sign off on it, it's possible that Santa Clara could become a one way street.