Albuquerque wasteful spending officially “jumps the shark”

According to KOB TV, the City of Albuquerque is about to embark upon the construction of an insanely expensive 7 mile bike trail that, when all is said and done, will cost $80 million. Of course, public works projects are notoriously expensive and often face massive cost overruns, but this may be the biggest boondoggle in New Mexico since Bill Richardson spent $400 million to build the Rail Runner.

The City currently fails to maintain existing bike routes but claims it has $40 million (half of what it needs) to build an elaborate bike path through Mayor Keller’s cherished Rail Yards and to other locations in a loop throughout parts of town.

There are numerous other uses for $80 million but one we thought of would be replacement of the I-25 bridge over the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque. The bridge is used by 35,000 vehicles every day and is in serious need of repairs estimated to cost $78 million. More than $10 million per mile for a bike path is utterly absurd.

See the KOB story below: