Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Bikeway Improvements
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd (MLK) serves as a major connection between Innovate ABQ and UNM. With great potential to be a multimodal corridor serving these two centers, the MLK project’s main focus was to add a bike lane under I-25 and improve the entire corridor for bicycles and pedestrians. To do so, modifications to the existing roadway were necessary to make room for bicyclists and improve ADA compliance for pedestrians. Taking advantage of the momentum on the project, green thermoplastic pavement marking was added at each of the signalized intersections to enhance visibility of the bike lanes and any bicycles in them. The application of the green thermoplastic is the first use in the state of New Mexico and required special FHWA approval. This is a first-of-its-kind project in Albuquerque, and the corridor now serves as a blueprint project for other multi-modal projects in the city.