Parents dropping off their kids at Madison Middle School Tuesday morning were greeted by signs saying there was an emergency utility problem just east of the school’s grass fields. The bicycle lane on the west side of Moon Street was closed in front of the school for most of the school day and traffic ran a bit slower than usual.
By the time the bell rang at 3:05 p.m. crews were seen removing the signs from the road. One of the workers removing signs said the emergency utility issue had something to do with the water – most likely a break in a water line. A sign on the west side of Moon Street asked vehicles to share the road with bicycles but over a dozen cars were seen parked in the bike lane as they waited to pick up students from Madison. Cars regularly park there during school pickup time despite numerous pleas from the principal not to.
By 4:15 p.m. most of the cars were no longer in the bike lane except for the vehicles that regularly park there during soccer practices at Aztec Park. On the west side of the street the bike lane was clear other than an Albuquerque Police Department speed monitoring device.