That sound wall makes a crummy window: Vic Montoya e-mails "far be it for me to complain when we finally get some needed road work done out here on the West Side, but there is a significant danger in the design of the new Golf Course Road project."
Uh-oh.
"If you are heading east on Driftwood," Vic says, "and need to make a right on to Golf Course, you can not see oncoming traffic unless you pull out into the southbound Golf Course lane in order to see around the new sound wall that was constructed. The sound wall is virtually on top of the roadway. I suspect that this is the case on other Golf Course intersections as well and will create the same problems when they complete the other side of Golf Course."
And Vic's not alone. He's "spoken to several of my neighbors, and they all think this is an accident waiting to happen! Am I jumping the gun here or do they have some future design element that hasn't been constructed yet that will address this problem?"
A and B. You're jumping the gun and there is a future design element.
Annette Montoya, the Golf Course project manager, says she recently drove the neighborhood and "noticed a similar thing coming out of Crestridge. Traffic is currently driving through a detour while they work on the east side of Golf Course. When the four-lane roadway is completed, there will be a 5-foot bike lane there."
And the design "does meet the criteria for sight distance requirements -- you should be able to see as far as Benton from Driftwood. Thanks for the written concern; I will consciously watch this as the project continues."
Source: Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)