1. Do you bike in New Mexico? Describe your experience biking for transportation and/or recreation.
Yes I enjoy road cycling, gravel biking and mountain biking. I love the opportunity to enjoy trails and nature.
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.
Everyone who works, and lives in the greater metropolitan area understands the challenges with traffic, and the conditions of our transportation byways. I fully support enhancing alternatives to driving for work, and leisure. As a former law enforcement executive, I truly understand and lived the dangerousness of our roadways. I fully support expanding biking trails and ensuring the safe travels of biking and pedestrians.
3. What are the biggest barriers to getting people to choose walking, biking, and public transit instead of personal vehicles for daily trips, and what would you do to address these impediments?
I have asked many people this question and the common answer is crime and safety of biking or walking as a primary means of transportation. I agree with this and was a victim of a bike theft when I biked to lunch. A criminal cut my lock and stole my bike.
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 New Mexico, and in particular the New Mexico Department of Transportation, do to improve traffic safety?
NMDOT needs every resource they can get from research from private and public entities including the public who experience the dangers on daily basis. They need the data to fully understand where and when the crashes are occurring and why. We need to consistently educate the public including our children on the importance of our pedestrian safety problem.
5. The New Mexico DOT is currently pursuing a pair of projects related to Interstate 25, following the South I-25 Corridor Study that calls for the widening of Interstate 25 in Albuquerque from Sunport to the Big I, to 8 lanes from the current 6. Do you support urban freeway widenings, or how would you prefer NMDOT enhance transportation options in this corridor?
I support a comprehensive plan and data driven approach to addressing our traffic issues. We have to find solutions that are for the future and not just the current!