Bernalillo County adds speed cameras on NM-528 to curb speeding

Bernalillo County is extending speed-camera enforcement along NM-528 as officials try to slow a corridor that keeps drawing complaints about speeding and crashes. The latest push reaches across the Albuquerque metro’s west side, where county planning maps now show active and proposed sites from Coors Boulevard and Bridge Boulevard to Alameda Parkway, Tramway Boulevard, Paradise Boulevard and Golf Course Road.

The county launched its automated speed enforcement program on Aug. 26, 2024 with 10 cameras and a 30-day warning period before citations began Sept. 25. Drivers are cited when they are caught going 10 mph over the posted limit, and the standard penalty is a $100 citation or $25 plus four hours of community service. County officials said the first four months of operation produced about 28,000 citations, and by March 2025, 17,540 had been paid. Roughly 20% of the tickets were rejected because of image-quality or plate-verification problems.

The expansion reached state roads later in 2024, when the New Mexico Department of Transportation approved five cameras at state-owned facilities. One of those approved locations was Alameda Parkway, NM-528 westbound between Rio Grande Boulevard and Guadalupe Trail. County officials had already used the first phase of the program in the Coors area, where they said traffic calming measures such as speed humps and lane reconfiguration had been tried before cameras were installed. Bernalillo County’s 2025 Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Action Plan says automated speed enforcement is one part of a broader crash-reduction strategy shaped by crash data analysis and community input.

Interim County Manager Shirley Ragin has said the program is meant as a safety tool rather than a money generator, while county transportation staff have said the goal is to change driver behavior. The county has also warned residents that text messages claiming to be traffic-fine notices are scams. The enforcement push now reaches beyond county lines: the City of Albuquerque had 20 speed cameras by late 2024 and 24 by March 2026, while Rio Rancho said three additional mobile speed cameras began operating June 15, 2026 along Highway 528 between Iris Road and Idalia Road and near Pasilla Road.