Albuquerque Bicycle Map

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Albuquerque Bicycle Map

Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck.

The city of Albuquerque has published a new bicycle map. I point this out because I went on a wander this morning on the bike, deciding to follow the green “bike route” signs north out of my neighborhood. It was a bit of an adventure, especially the part where the bike route signs directed me onto Montgomery NE, which seems to me one of the class A bike unfriendly streets in this town. Sunday morning, not so, though. And mostly, the signs offered a reasonable way through neighborhoods I don’t normally ride through, so it was a plus. I used the map afterward to figure out where I’d been.

It’s a good map, though I can’t help but think there’s room for some sort of Google maps/Google Earth/kmz mashup here. I’m not saying here that “they” should do it. This is a perfect opportunity for some sort of Wiki-Creative Commonsish sort of thing, so I suppose if I think it should exist there’s no reason not to make it myself. I dunno. Maybe this is the sort of thing that works better on paper. It’s not like I’ve got Google Earth along on my bike rides. And I did send for a paper copy.

4 Comments

  1. I’ve been unsuccessfully searching for some sort of quasi up-to-date Albuquerque biking blog or web page….
    I’m new to riding in Albuquerque (motivation: diabetes and high gas prices) and am flummoxed at the inaccurate info provided by the Metro Albuquerque Bicycle Map.
    Take, for instance, a simple route like the North Diversion Channel Trail. The map shows it connecting to:
    -Balloon Fiesta Park at Alameda (I’ve ridden the area and can find nothing on either side of the diversion channel except for a bike-looking bridge that connects to nothing on either end)
    -From Paseo Del Norte to Bear Arroyo Trail:
    -The bike trail is blocked, with locked gates and ripped-up construction, at the north end approaching Paseo Del Norte.
    For a while bikers could get through it by walking and threading their way around the construction obstacles but it now has a locked gate AND all passages around it seem to have been destroyed. They likely don’t like bikers riding close to the construction zone, but why is this not published instead of just letting bikers find out the hard way on their way to work etc? Perhaps they don’t realize not ALL bikers are joyriders and some may have schedules they wish they could keep?
    -At the Bear Arroyo intersection, it also has been blocked off and access destroyed with construction. None of these intersections are marked with signage, either, hard on a newbie like me who dully thinks the map is an accurate source of directions, where to turn, etc.
    -Where the bike path intersects Singer there is an UNMARKED detour that bikers must take IF they wish to continue south under I-25 and Montgomery and points onward. If one dully follows the map, the bike trail just suddenly ends with a concrete barrier and a sawhorse about a quarter mile south of the UNMARKED detour taking bikers to the east side of the diversion channel. Even the sales guys at REI (Montgomery and I-25) seem unaware of the detour.
    I too have requested a copy of the “NEW” Albuq. bike map but that was over a week ago and nothing yet. I’m betting even if I DO finally receive one it will be hopelessly out of date….
    If you know of a site where lunkheads like me could both check on current bike trail conditions around the city/county AND post current experiences or reports of problems, inaccuracies, whatever, I’d surely appreciate it.
    Jim

  2. It would be nice if the City of Albuquerque made these maps in a larger pdf format. I don’t mind printing multiple pages. I do have a problem with not being able to see what I have printed. At least the previous map was 11″ in length and somwhat easier to see.

  3. I appreciate the city’s efforts, but I’d like to see Bike ABQ (or ABQBike, I always get that mixed up) do more of a Wiki-commons version in which actual riders would create actual “best practices”.

    For instance, my commute from the River Bike Path through downtown to MLK took a while to evolve. There were early, not-so-great iterations. If we combined these evolutions into a city-wide document (hard and online versions)…we might help quite a few folks get out from behind the wheel and such.

    P.S.: I think a big part of the “best practices” would be a look at the day/time of ride. Things change so much between a lazy Sunday morning and a 5:15 Monday afternoon down MLK.

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