Titan Development’s construction of the Allaso Vineyard luxury apartment complex on Holly & Ventura has one area resident concerned about traffic congestion. Marty McGowan of Albuquerque Acres says he frequently travels through the intersection where the new construction is going up, and traffic is already bad there.
“The intersection of Holly and Ventura is extremely congested,” McGowan said. “I don’t understand why the road wasn’t widened before the construction started.”
According to Alli Cooke, senior associate for Lambert & Co. and media contact for Titan Development, “Titan and the city are working together to construct a roundabout at Holly and Ventura. Based on the traffic study, the roundabout will alleviate the congestion in the area. More information on this will be available in the future.”
As of March 18, a chain-link fence around the construction zone extended out to a narrow, rocky easement near the street where there was no sidewalk. A steady flow of traffic could be seen going up and down Holly, which runs parallel to Paseo del Norte and feeds several area businesses. McGowan is concerned the 111-unit complex will bring more traffic with it, and the design not well thought out.
McGowan said one of the problems is that streets will not be expanded until someone invests, or residents pay an impact fee. “What perplexes the daylights out of me is why wouldn’t they expand that road before or during the construction they’re doing instead of waiting.”
According to a Feb. 15, 2021 KRQE news article, City Councilor Brook Bassan said engineers proposed building a roundabout at the intersection after a study was done to address traffic problems in the area. The estimated cost of constructing the roundabout is $727,000.
