Skip to main content

Albuquerque to get regional traffic management centre

The city of Albuquerque in New Mexico is to get a new regional traffic management centre according to mayor Richard J. Berry, who has unveiled plans for a brand new facility located at Kirtland Air Force Base. The centre is proposed to be located in the Jenkins Armed Forces Reserve Center which was relocated onto Kirkland Air Force Base. The City of Albuquerque owned the property, and had been leasing it for a dollar a year to the armed services. “And now”, says the mayor, “the armed services are donating
October 4, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The city of Albuquerque in New Mexico is to get a new regional traffic management centre according to mayor Richard J. Berry, who has unveiled plans for a brand new facility located at Kirtland Air Force Base.

The centre is proposed to be located in the Jenkins Armed Forces Reserve Center which was relocated onto Kirkland Air Force Base. The City of Albuquerque owned the property, and had been leasing it for a dollar a year to the armed services.

“And now”, says the mayor, “the armed services are donating the facilities on-site for free which is going to save us tens of millions of capital dollars to build a regional traffic management centre. This is a win-win for the citizens of Albuquerque and the metropolitan area."

The current traffic management centre operates “out of a double-wide trailer” says Berry, which communicates primarily by phone with a second centre currently located in the basement of the Mid- Region Council of Governments building down town.

"When complete, we’ll have all the stakeholders in the same area communicating in real time, solving traffic snarls around the region," Mid-Region Council of Governments Executive Director Dewey Cave told local reporters. “We are excited that this new centre is moving forward."

Cave is pleased that “early cost estimates for construction are running close to US$9 million,” rather than the US$70 million usually spent on similarly sized projects. By recycling the existing facilities and infrastructure, says Cave, “Albuquerque has already started using the other buildings on the site for DMD street maintenance equipment, and part of Solid Waste Department’s recycling program. A new Fire Department maintenance shop and Police Athletic League activities are also planned for the very near future.”

Construction of the centre is still two years away, according to officials.

Related Content

  • Bogotá sets tentative timeline for metro tender
    February 6, 2015
    Bogotá mayor Gustavo Petro has announced that a tender for the Colombian capital's Line No. 1 metro project, which has been in the planning for a decade, could be issued by July. However, the final timeline for bidding will depend on whether the city is first able to line up financing for the project, the mayor added, according to local press reports. Building the metro line is expected to cost US$7.5 billion, or about double the previous estimates. In its current form, the metro line will extend some
  • US favours express buses are for intercity travel
    November 26, 2013
    David Crawford records an upsurge in ground travel. Express buses are powering ahead of air and rail as the US’ most-favoured form of intercity travel and major operators are investing in passenger-attracting and retaining technologies. At the same time ‘kayak’-style price comparison websites are emerging to widen rider choice. Modelled on airline industry search engines that find cheap flight deals by comparing carriers’ offers, these new websites aim to fill the same gap for a ground-travel equivalent
  • Traffic signal control centre win for Siemens
    March 22, 2013
    A contract worth US$8.22 million to design and build a traffic signal control centre in the Polish city of Bialystok has been won by Siemens. The centre is to be ready for 2015, and will enable buses to take priority at almost all of the city's crossroads where traffic lights are installed, according to Deputy Mayor of Bialystok, Adam Polinski. In addition, the new system will be designed to promote optimal flow of general traffic.
  • EVs: Time for a rethink
    December 14, 2021
    Given a growing body of evidence that EVs are not the clean, green machines they are made out to be, Andrew Bunn suggests they can only be part of the puzzle – not the answer to environmental problems