August 28 – Albuquerque’s most dangerous stretch of road for pedestrians has been shrouded in darkness for more than a month after an accident knocked out streetlights in the area.
Kai Porter, spokesman for the Public Service Company of New Mexico, said all 17 streetlights on Central between Pennsylvania and Louisiana went out on July 12 when a motorist crashed into a light pole, knocking out power to the other lights.
He said PNM, which owns those streetlights, had been scheduling repairs every weekend since then, but has now been redirected to fixing weather-related outages impacting customers.
“It’s a priority and we hope to have the street lights restored by the end of the week,” Porter told the Journal. If there are no further delays, the lights should be back on by Sunday, he said.
Porter said work is expected to begin Thursday and those driving on Central Street should expect possible lane closures and delays while repairs are being made.
The outage occurred right in the middle of the 3-mile stretch of Central between San Mateo and Eubank, where 34 people were fatally struck by motorists between 2018 and 2023, according to a Journal analysis. At least 10 of those deaths occurred on the half-mile stretch between Louisiana and Pennsylvania.
Earlier this year, the city held a press conference in front of the International District Library to announce several projects to improve safety, such as pedestrian safety lights and raised medians, but almost all of the projects affected other sections of Central and surrounding areas.
In the months that followed, the city announced that $1.7 million in funding had been allocated to install 198 pedestrian safety signals on Central Street between Louisiana and Eubank.
Ava Montoya, a city spokeswoman, said the design phase is complete and the project will go out to bid in the fall, with construction scheduled to begin early next year.
According to the Department of Community Development, this part of Central is unique because it is home to a large number of pedestrians, with a person crossing the street every two minutes.
This section is also home to one of the city’s largest homeless populations.
