ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The sights and sounds of speeding down 6th Street near Downtown Albuquerque are nothing new to the people who live along it.

“They go, I mean, 20 miles an hour probably over. You hear brakes all the time, honking because of the one-way sign we have here,” resident Kristle Hardage said.

“I’m doing about 30, and they’re just whizzing by me,” resident Michael Counts said.

Counts knows the speeding problem all too well. He’s had four cars crash into his wall at the corner of 6th and Bellamah over the last few years.

“It’s so frustrating to come out here and see your yard and wall a mess when you’re working hard to keep your place up.”

He’s tried everything to slow people down, including signs from the city. “I’m out here putting the sign up, and guys are just, you know, speeding by while I’m putting the sign up,” Counts said.


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Neighbors have called on the City to do something, and now the stretch is changing, the City says to slow traffic and improve safety.

Along with new striping and repaving, the one-way street will be reduced from two lanes to one from Bellamah to Mountain, just south of I-40 in the Wells Park neighborhood. The project also adds street parking and a bicycle lane.

“I think it’s a good idea to have the bike lane come in, that’s actually going to be very helpful ’cause you can use it on Mountain and then go to the Sawmill, go to Old Town,” resident Dominic Roybal said.

Some who call this road home are optimistic the changes will help.

“I think it could potentially [help] just because it’s less of a raceway, and you have to follow someone,” Hardage said.

Others, like Counts, hope it’s enough.

“We’ll see, that’s my attitude now. I mean, if it slows down traffic, if things improve here, I will be grateful to the city for their effort, but as things stand right now, it’s a wait-and-see attitude.”

The City said the project is expected to wrap up by the end of the week.