Las Cruces considers reducing lanes on Lohman, Amador Avenues for bikes
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KFOX14) — The City of Las Cruces is considering a proposal to redesign two major roadways in the city.
A group in Las Cruces proposed to cut down a lane on Lohman and Amador Avenues in order to create a bike lane.
It would also turn Lohman and Amador Avenues into three-lane roads.
People KFOX14 spoke with said creating a bike lane would make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians.
"Bringing it down will slow people down I don’t think it will congest any traffic or anything like that and it’s much safer," said Las Crucen, Steve Sosa.
"A lot of people nowadays they love to ride bikes downtown so I think that would be a good idea," said another Las Crucen, Alejandra Orquiz.
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Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima told KFOX14 he was on board with the idea.
"When you have four lanes like that, it lends itself to having traffic move very quickly sometimes unsafely and also the possibility of increasing of accidents both from pedestrian side also from an automobile side," said Miyagishima.
Some Las Crucens who ride their bikes daily said the addition of the bike lane would be helpful.
"I’m a bicyclist myself and I almost got hit twice today, so I think that’s a great idea," said Juan Talamantez.
"Some of the lanes are a little tight so I have to squeeze more in the side of the curb and the roads are a little rough here so it can get a little wonky," said Jacob Rhodus.
Miyagishima said city staff needs to take a deeper look at the proposal to figure out the logistics, which included finding a source of funding.
"What we’ve asked staff to do is to now take a look at the information that was provided at our work session, develop a type of assessment and then bring it back to council to see if they want to move this forward," said Miyagishima.
The mayor added this proposal could be put up for a vote on the City Council agenda within two to three months.
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