BikeABQ Candidate Survey
Walt Benson
Bernalillo County Commissioner District 4
1. Do you bike in New Mexico? Describe your experience biking for transportation and/or recreation.
Yes, mostly recreational mountain biking in the Sandia Foothills. In college I commuted to and from work by bike. I rode the bus with my bike from UNM up to the area by Manzano HS, then ride home to UNM in the evening.
2. Describe your vision of a healthy, safe, equitable transportation system for the Greater Albuquerque Region and the roles walking, biking, and public transportation play in that vision.
I envision an environment where everybody can commute by bike if they so choose.
3. What are the biggest barriers to getting people to choose walking, biking, and public transit instead of personal vehicles for daily trips in Bernalillo County, and what would you do to address these impediments?
The distance between home and work and kids schools and kids activities is vast in Albuquerque. We need to increase the number of job creating businesses throughout the city which will eventually shorten the distance between all of these.
4. New Mexico consistently has the deadliest streets of any state in the US, with approximately 400 people killed by vehicles each year while walking, biking, or driving, and another 12,000 people injured. What should Bernalillo County do to improve traffic safety?
Coors Blvd is the deadliest street in America for Pedestrians. I wrote two ordinances to address this county wide problem. The first makes it illegal to panhandle or loiter at high traffic intersections with recorded traffic accidents. The next was to create a mobile speed camera network to assist law enforcement in reducing speeding throughout the county. Both of these ordinances passed in the BernCo commission with a supermajority.
5. Bernalillo County’s urban areas have limited space on streets. In order to increase safety and improve mobility, some modes of transportation must be prioritized over others to make the most of this limited space. Please rank how you would prioritize different modes of transportation on city streets, using numbers 1 through 7:
1. Walking & devices that aid people with a disability
2. Bicycles and Scooters
3. Personal Automobiles
4. Public Transportation
5. Ride Hailing Services (Taxi, Uber, Lyft)
6. Parking
7. Freight and Delivery