RESIDENTS TARGETING SPEEDERS

Speeders along Camino De Los Marquez in Santa Fe need to calm down, some residents say.

Members of the Don Diego Neighborhood Association, a group of people who live near the intersection of Don Diego Avenue and Camino De Los Marquez, recently proposed redesigning Marquez to promote safety on the nearly quarter-mile of paved street.

The city planning department endorses the proposal and the City Public Safety Committee has told city staff to design plans to pro- mote slower driving speeds, on Marquez, said principal planner Cyrus Samii.

Marquez, which has a 25 mph speed limit, is sometimes used as a shortcut to avoid traffic on St. Francis Avenue and Cerrillos Road. Doing that creates prob- lems, such as speeding, according to the Camino De Los Marquez Traffic-Calming Propos- al.
"(Marquez) is a speedway," Samii said. "We're trying to redesign Marquez so people go the speed limit."
Marquez stretches between Gal- isteo Street west to Cordova Road and skirts the northern edge of Mercado de Santa Fe, a shopping center with Osco Drug and several restaurants in it.
The association's proposal adds to Marquez a series of speed calm- ing measures, such as welcome signs, street-side landscaping, curves and several other "cues" to deter speeding, Samii said.
The association's proposal includes diagonal, nose-in parking along portions of Marquez and raised sections of pavement in the roadbeds at intersections, to encourage drivers to slow down.
The plan also calls for creating curves, or serpentines, in the now- straight road, Samii said.
Some roads, like Marquez, are designed for drivers to go about 40 mph and then stop signs are installed to make them slow down, but the stop signs are ignored and some drivers speed between them, Samii said.
Samii points to residential streets on the east side of town as examples of traffic-calming roadways. Acequia Madre and Camino Del Monte Sol - both narrow and serpentine - are prime examples of streets that promote driving within the speed limit, he said.
The association also hopes the traffic calming measures will make Marquez more pedestrian-friendly, said Hubert van hecke, an association member who has lived in the neighborhood for six years.
Marquez is a barrier for bicyclists and pedestrians on the north side of the road heading to businesses on its south side, he said.
"The intersection of Camino de los Marquez and Don Diego is big and is not a friendly intersection for bicycles and pedestrians," van Hecke said.
Some business owners in the area say the traffic calming maesures will be good for their businesses.
"Their idea is a good idea," said Steve Slade, owner of the Pyramid Cafe in the Mercado. "I could put tables by the parking (space along Marquez)."..If people didn't use it as a thoroughfare, I'd do it."
Well-marked pedestrian crossings also are part of the association's plan, said Carrie LaCrosse, a city planner.
Marquez's east end is wide and slopes downhill, encouraging speeding, said Laura Woilson, an association member who has lived in the Don Diego neighborhood since 1972.
That portionof the street is lined with apartment buildings and many pets have been hit by cars, Wilson said.
But she has never heard of a person being hit by a car along that section of the road.
No date has been set for installing traffic-calming measures on Marquez but the Public Works Department will review the association's proposal in light of emergency traffic, maintainance and other issues, Samii said.
Samii said once a final design has been drawn up, his department will come up with an estimated cost and ask the City Council for funding.