Road Warrior: ABQ ranked below average in list of big cities to drive in, report says

Dec. 8—Happy Monday and happy holidays.

In a study of the 100 largest cities in the country to drive in, Albuquerque was ranked below average, 65th, just behind Houston, according to WalletHub.

"This ranking reflects a variety of factors from costs to infrastructure and safety," WalletHub spokesperson Diana Polk told the Journal in an email.

"A few favorable aspects contributed to the city's ranking, most notably, number 5 in low auto maintenance costs, which is key, given the high costs of driving nationwide," she said. "The city also boasts a high driving laws score."

What pulled the city's ranking down was safety, which ranked 96th. This takes into consideration higher accident rates, traffic fatalities, low seat-belt use and a high number of uninsured drivers. Additionally, Albuquerque's traffic and infrastructure was 53rd, Polk said.

While Albuquerque drivers benefit from relatively low maintenance costs and sound traffic laws, "they still face significant safety and infrastructure challenges that negatively affect the overall driving experience," she said.

WalletHub's methodology for the ranking involved comparing 100 cities in costs of ownership and maintenance, traffic and infrastructure, safety, and access to vehicles and maintenance.

"By weighing factors like gas prices, hours spent in congestion and accident rates," Polk said, "WalletHub aimed to provide a comprehensive view of how driver-friendly each city is."

Is Albuquerque is a driver-friendly city?

HOLIDAY REMINDER: The city of Albuquerque is reminding motorists of its holiday construction moratoriums, which started on Nov. 25 and will continue until Jan 1.

A couple of areas the moratoriums are taking place include:

—Old Town: All streets bounded by, and including, Mountain Road on the north, 19th Street on the east, Central on the south, and Rio Grande Boulevard on the west, plus key arterial and collector routes commonly used by shoppers in this area.

—Uptown: Menaul on the north, Pennsylvania on the east, Interstate 40 on the south, and San Pedro on the west.

TRANSPORTATION BILL TRACKER: The New Mexico Department of Transportation recently announced the launch of an interactive dashboard to track legislative appropriation projects across the state.

PROJECT AWARDS: NMDOT recently awarded three grants totaling $62 million.

The money will go to support safety and freight efficiency improvements on Interstate 40 over Rio Puerco in McKinley County, create the infrastructure to collect and integrate asset data to share with Navajo Nation partners, and establish programs to "significantly reduce the carbon intensity of materials" in NMDOT's construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation activities, NMDOT spokesperson Kristine Bustos-Milhelcic said.

HIGHWAY HISTORY: On Dec. 9, 1918, Logan Waller Page died.

Page was one of the founders of the American Association of State Highway Officials. He worked closely with AASHO to secure passage of the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 and get the federal-aid highway program under way, Federal Highway Administration Information Liaison Specialist Richard Weingroff wrote in the summer 1996 issue of Public Roads.

Page and the agency he shaped (Bureau of Public Roads) "embodied the Progressive Era belief that fact- and data-based technicians would solve society's problems," Weingroff said. Page was a good roads promoter who encouraged states to create highway programs, staffed with engineers.

An AASHO tribute said Page "contributed much to smooth the ways of travel, to turn aside the stones over which we stumble, to widen the avenues along which we must work, and has made safer, brighter and lighter the Nation's pathways for the feet of commerce, liberty and happiness."