'We're looking for smart solutions': New tech aimed at jamming up speeders along Albuquerque's Lead and Coal corridor

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A study of the Lead and Coal corridor showed that drivers were traveling more than 100 mph in some areas. | Adobe Stock

New equipment is ready to hamper speeding drivers along Albuquerque's Lead and Coal corridor. 

A study of the corridor showed that drivers were traveling more than 100 mph in some areas, and the number of crashes in that area is two to three times the average number of crashes in other areas, according to KOB4. The area speed limit is 30 mph, according to KRQE.

The city's solution? Install new traffic signals that, rather than being green on approach, remain red unless everyone is at or under the posted speed limit.

"Too many people all over our city are just ignoring traffic laws," Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis told KOB4. "Until we have enough officers to intervene one-on-one, we're looking for smart solutions like this." 

Davis said the city set aside $300,000 for the study and six of the new traffic signals, according to the station. Data from the study was published in a Rest-in-Red feasibility study

The city and residents in the area have cited that road as a major danger zone for traffic issues and speeders. 

In 2019, traffic signals in the area were adjusted to help stop speeding, according to the Albuquerque Journal, but it wasn't enough. 

In May, an area resident told KUNM that there were at least five crashes on his property there in the last few years, with vehicles and parts ending up on his lawn. He was driven to put reflective tape on the light pole outside his home as a preventive measure.