Albuquerque City Council Approves "Quick Build" Ordinance to Accelerate Street Safety and Reduce Traffic Fatalities

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Tonight, the Albuquerque City Council approved O-26-55, a crucial amendment to Albuquerque's Complete Streets Ordinance, sponsored by District 7 City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn and District 6 City Councilor Nichole Rogers. The City Council’s approval of ordinance requires the City to systematically evaluate and integrate "Quick Build" safety treatments when planning routine road construction, resurfacing, sidewalk reconstruction, or restriping projects.

Currently, Albuquerque suffers from one of the highest pedestrian and cyclist fatality rates in the nation. This bill addresses the crisis head-on by ensuring that all residents—whether they are walking, rolling, bicycling, using transit, or driving—have access to streets designed with their safety as the ultimate priority.

“Our community deserves safe streets now, not years down the line after a lengthy capital planning process,” said Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn. “By utilizing quick build strategies, we can implement proven safety countermeasures faster and at a fraction of the cost of major infrastructure overhauls. This legislation ensures that every time the City touches a street for maintenance or restriping, we are taking a hard look at how we can immediately make it safer for our most vulnerable road users.”

Quick build projects utilize durable, lower-cost materials—such as traffic paint, pavement markings, flexible delineator posts, and preformed concrete elements—to implement interim infrastructure. These projects can typically be designed and constructed within a single year, remain in place for one to five years, and can be easily adjusted based on community feedback and technical analysis without requiring roadway widening, right-of-way acquisition, or curb relocation.

To execute this vision, the City’s Department of Municipal Development (DMD) will utilize the toolkit provided in the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s recently published Quick Build Guide (April 2026).

“This allows the City to make immediate safety improvements called for in the Complete Streets ordinance,” said Councilor Nichole Rogers. “Safety improvements shouldn’t be delayed due to massive, time-consuming capital projects. O-26-55 requires the City to justify its decisions. If a quick build safety treatment cannot be incorporated into a road project, the City must now document exactly why. We are changing the default from 'why should we?' to 'why shouldn't we?'”

O-26-55 includes:

• Mandatory Safety Evaluations: For all street resurfacing, reconstruction, and restriping projects, DMD must evaluate if quick build treatments can be incorporated to improve safety and multimodal access while reducing timelines and costs.
• Proven Countermeasures: The City will consider treatments such as dedicated bicycle facilities, pedestrian lanes, road diets, curb extensions, median refuges, high-visibility crosswalks, rapid rectangular flashing beacons (RRFBs), and speed cushions.
• Strict Accountability: If quick build treatments are not incorporated into a project, DMD is required to document the specific reasons the treatment was determined to be infeasible in the project file.
• Annual Public Reporting: DMD must submit an annual written report to the City Council every August detailing the projects completed in the prior fiscal year, the number of projects that utilized quick build treatments, and a summary of reasons why treatments were omitted elsewhere. This report will be published on the DMD website for full public transparency.
• Public Art Collaboration: DMD is encouraged to collaborate with the Department of Arts and Culture to identify locations for potential art projects within these quick build implementations.

With the passage of O-26-55, the Albuquerque City Council reaffirms its commitment to the Complete Streets vision, and making Albuquerque's roadways accessible and safe for everyone.