Albuquerque

Albuquerque is a heavily planned city. In much of the city, the major roads are lined primarily with businesses with residential mazes on the insides. The city is divided into four quadrants, with street addresses taking the form "12345 Main St. NE/NW/SE/SW" in which the NE/NW/SE/SW suffix denotes the quadrant of the city containing the address. The railroad tracks, which run parallel to I-25, are the east/west dividing line, and Central Ave. is the north/south dividing line. Thus, the street address 3600 Menaul NE would be north of Central and east of the tracks. This nomenclature, while useful in helping you with maps and directions, has the drawback that you can't tell whether a street runs north-south or east-west simply by looking at the address.

By and large it's difficult to get truly lost in Albuquerque, thanks in large part to the looming presence of the Sandia Mountains to the east. If you can also remember that I-25 runs north-south, I-40 runs east-west, and the Rio Grande runs along the bottom of the valley in the western part of the city, you should be able to make your way around the city without too many problems. Here are some basic terms that will come in handy when asking for directions or looking at a map:

Central Avenue

is a principal east-west artery, running roughly parallel to I-40 and through Downtown just west of I-25 and past the University of New Mexico UNM for short just east of I-25.

The Heights are the eastern part of town closest to the Sandia Mountains. You may also hear reference to the Foothills, which are the most extreme eastern part of the city, right at the base of the mountains.

Uptown

is a business and shopping district located in the Heights at I-40 and Louisiana Blvd.

The North Valley and Los Ranchos de Albuquerque technically a separate community from Albuquerque encompass the area north of I-40 between I-25 and the river.

The South Valley is the area west of I-25 south of downtown.

The Westside is all the suburban neighborhoods on the western side of the river. Rio Rancho, a separate community from Albuquerque, is the metro area's largest suburb and can be considered a northern extension of the Westside.

By car

If you're driving, be prepared for frequent road construction. The city government web site, (http://www.cabq.gov/const...), gives information on major construction projects, but there are always minor ones going on. Several radio stations try to give traffic reports during morning and afternoon rush hours, but the service tends to come and go, and it's best to inquire locally as to which stations are currently offering it. KKOB-AM, 770 on the dial, seems to be fairly reliable for these reports. The interchange of I-40 and I-25 is commonly called "The Big I", and you will hear it referred to as such in traffic reports. Traffic congestion, while not nearly as horrible as some of the other cities in the Western U.S., can still get bad during the rush hour and on Saturdays. The two interstates and the river crossings usually have the worst congestion.

Many Albuquerqueans seem to consider I-40 and 25, which run through the city, to be their own personal expressways. The lack of turn signal usage is a running joke for most Albuquerque drivers, so watch for cars changing lanes without warning. However, Interstate traffic usually flows around the pace of the speed limit.

Keep in mind that driving while talking on your cell phone is illegal in Albuquerque unless you use a hands-free system.

By bike

Albuquerque is fairly bikeable, but it's a sprawling Western city and things are spread out. It's hillier than it looks; Old Town and downtown attractions are several hundred feet lower than things in the heights on the eastern side of the city; plan accordingly. Getting around by bike can be a mixed bag in Albuquerque: street cycling can be risky at times; drivers may not always be aware and most major streets lack bicycle lanes and even those that do have lanes may require uncomfortably close proximity to fast traffic. On the other hand, Albuquerque has a very proactive cycling community and a splendid paved trail network which is undergoing an expansion phase.

The crown jewel in this network is the Paseo del Bosque Trail, which runs along the east side of the Rio Grande and offers lovely riverside scenery. Another backbone to the trail network is the North Diversion Channel Trail which runs from UNM north to Balloon Fiesta Park, and while not nearly as scenic as the Bosque trail it runs along a concrete drainage channel and past some industry it offers the occasional grand vista of the city. Another fun ride is the paved trail along Tramway Boulevard on the eastern edge of the city, which offers excellent views of the city and access to the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. You can find a complete bike map of all the trails, lanes, and recommended routes on the city's bicycling website (http://www.cabq.gov/bike/).

By bus

ABQ RIDE, +1 505 243-RIDE, (http://www.cabq.gov/transit/), is Albuquerque's public transit system although it's a driving city, and until very recently the city was not trying to make any great strides in its public transit system. So with the exception of Central Ave., public transit here is still for the most part very underdeveloped. Most of ABQ Ride's routes spur out of the Alvarado Transportation Center in downtown at Central Ave. & First St., which also serves as Albuquerque's Amtrak station and Greyhound depot. Bus service is reduced during the weekend.

The Rapid Ride is an express bus service operated by ABQ Ride which runs frequently, utilizing bright red articulated buses. There are three Rapid Ride routes: the Route 766 Red Line and Route 777 Green Line each run very frequently and almost entirely on Central Ave., with the 766 running from Uptown to Unser/Central, while the 777 runs from Tramway/Central to Downtown. The Route 790 Blue Line connects UNM to the Cottonwood Mall area on the Westside, running less frequently than the Red and Green Lines.

Standard fares for all ABQ Ride routes are $1 per ride, with several discounts possible. A day pass is $2. A day pass is included in the price of a Rail Runner Express day pass, so visitors who ride the train to Albuquerque can also ride the bus for free using their train ticket.