Jun. 15—On Friday afternoon in Southeast Albuquerque, a common sight unfolded: People jaywalking through rolling traffic within sight of a crosswalk. A sign that read "Pedestrian In Roadway" flashed to warn drivers of their presence.

The newly placed sign detects people by repurposing wildlife crossing technology, the kind seen along rural highways where elk roam freely. It is part of a recent effort by the city of Albuquerque to protect pedestrians in an area that has become synonymous with drug abuse, homelessness and mental health issues.

For the past several years, what was done to protect those walking on the particularly deadly area of East Central was not enough. There were 40 pedestrians killed by drivers on the 3-mile stretch of Central between San Mateo and Eubank from 2018-2024.

For comparison, the entire 20-miles of Coors, another contender for the city's most dangerous road, had 22 pedestrian deaths in that same period.

Now, the city says it is making its biggest commitment yet, $5 million, to pedestrian safety infrastructure in the area that has, year after year, tallied the highest loss of life.

By 2027, officials are planning to convert two lanes of Central Avenue from regular traffic use, add two mid-block crossings and nearly 200 pedestrian lights along the roadside. The repurposed wildlife crossing signal was installed in early April at Central and Louisiana.

"I think the big thing is it just takes a long time to plan these projects," Daniel Mayfield, spokesperson for the city's Department of Municipal Development, said in an interview earlier this year.

In an email earlier this month, Mayfield said the conversion Business Access and Transit lanes — restriped for bus use, business access and right-turns only — were first discussed in 2023 but weren't added to the scope of the project until summer 2024.

In early 2024, Mayor Tim Keller held the news conference to bring awareness to the deadliness along that stretch of Central, but almost all the announced projects were focused on other, much safer, portions of Route 66.

Valerie Hermanson, the Vision Zero Coordinator for Albuquerque, said recently that East Central had been "on our radar" since she took the job in 2022. Keller signed onto Vision Zero, a nationwide commitment to "create safer streets for all," in May 2019.

Hermanson said the city chose to go with BAT lanes, instead of a true reduction from six to four lanes, due to the area's high dependence on ABQ Ride transit.

"From that perspective, it made sense to prioritize the BAT lane over other road diet types," she said.

An East Central Safety Study released in 2020 proposed reducing Central to four lanes, something that has been done on much of the roadway, by replacing the outermost with a buffered bike lane.

Hermanson said BAT lanes were a better option based on the amount of vehicles, drivers' speeds and the number of driveways on that stretch of Central.

"It's a lower cost, higher impact, something that we can do in the near term, while we start to plan for those larger, more costly, infrastructure improvements in the future," she said.

Mayfield said the city is currently perusing bids on the projects. The first groundbreaking is set to begin this summer on the restriping for BAT lanes, which will be relegated to bus, business access and right-turns only.

He said the pedestrian lighting and two pedestrian-activated mid-block crosswalks on Central, east of Eubank, would be completed in 2026.

The total estimated cost of the BAT lanes and crosswalks was just under $3 million while the pedestrian lighting was about $2 million, Mayfield said.

"Our engineering teams have worked very hard to come up with solutions and a funding stream to make this transformational project happen," Mayfield said. "We really do believe this project will save lives and make that area safer."

Scot Key, a longtime traffic safety advocate, said — without a true lane reduction — the stretch of road will be dangerous for pedestrians.

He said that part of Central has always felt like "a freeway" since other portions got road diets, largely due to the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project. Key doesn't think BAT lanes, which will not be painted the way ART lanes are, will change that.

He said Mid-Region Council of Governments data showed that the number of drivers spikes the farther east you get from San Mateo — with around 27,000 drivers using Central near Wyoming, compared to 14,000 in Nob Hill.

"It goes up, up, up pretty much all the way to Eubank before it starts trailing off," Key said. "Until people are discouraged to the point that they evidently have shown to be in the ART section of East Central, it's going to continue to be a problem."

He said BAT lanes could even backfire if drivers feel more comfortable speeding in regular-use lanes, knowing there are no buses to compete with. Key said he does believe it will make the sidewalk safer, as well as for those getting on and off the bus.

As for the repurposing of the wildlife sign, he said, "I think that's what you do, when you don't know what the hell to do."

Across the Albuquerque area, drivers struck and killed six fewer people last year than in 2023, when the city tallied a record-breaking 56 pedestrian fatalities. The 50 pedestrian deaths in 2024 still set the second-highest total, one death above the 49 killed in 2021.

Since 2018, the Journal has compiled pedestrian fatality data directly from Albuquerque police, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office and New Mexico State Police, to map out the parts of town that see the most deaths.

As has been the case for years, Albuquerque's pedestrian deaths also made up the lion's share of fatalities statewide in 2024, with 50 of the 92 across New Mexico happening around the city.

New Mexico has held the top spot as the deadliest state for pedestrians every year since 2016, according to rankings by the Governors Highway Safety Association. A preliminary GHSA report has the state ranked No. 1 for 2024 as well, with a fatality rate of 2 deaths per 100,000 people.

And those numbers don't include the hundreds of non-fatal pedestrian crashes that occur annually.

In 2023 across New Mexico, 642 people were struck by drivers and, of those, 108 were killed, according to the most recent crash report from the University of New Mexico. Although pedestrian crashes made up 1.5% of total crashes statewide, they made up 24% of traffic fatalities.

The report found that while the streets are more deadly for those on foot, the problem magnifies when mixing inebriation and bad lighting — with almost 50% of pedestrians killed in crashes having alcohol in their system and "in dark, not lighted, conditions."

The stretch of Central which has had the most pedestrian fatalities has the worst lighting and largest population of the most at-risk: those living on the streets, struggling with substance abuse and behavioral health issues.

Many of the 40 people who have died along the stretch since 2018 fit the criteria.

Key, the traffic safety advocate, pointed out that Zuni Road, the two-lane arterial just south of Central, has a similar population but a near-nonexistent number of pedestrians being killed in comparison. The difference, he said, is the number of lanes makes drivers slow down and pay attention.

Key said he believes it will take that kind of commitment to make East Central safer for those on foot.

"It's a black eye on the city, and it's going to continue to be that way until way more than $6 million are spent," he said, adding, "there's just a perception of that part of town that it just doesn't deserve that level of attention."