8th Street & Robinson Park Feasibility Study
A collaboration between Downtown ABQ MainStreet Arts & Cultural District, New Mexico MainStreet, and the City of Albuquerque, the 8th St. + Robinson Park Feasibility Study explores how to make 8th Street and Robinson Park a more convenient and efficient place to have community events while increasing pedestrian safety around the park.
The study conducted by Anthropopulus Design + Planning, and provided by New Mexico MainStreet Technical Assistance, examined possible design concepts for how 8th Street could be more physically and functionally integrated with the park. The study gathered community input through surveys, events, and meetings, ensuring residents and park users shaped the final recommendations.
Image: Robinson Park, courtesy of the City of Albuquerque.
Robinson Park is Albuquerque’s second oldest park after Old Town Plaza. This images shows the park in the early 1900s and is courtesy of the Albuquerque Museum.
pROJECT gOALS
Explore ways to make Robinson Park a more convenient + efficient place to host community events while complying with historic preservation requirements
Review options for increasing pedestrian and bicycle safety around the park
Improve connectivity between the ARRIVE Hotel and Robinson Park
Reinforce the authentic local, creative, and diverse culture of the core
Create comfortable and dynamic public spaces
Encourage strategic integrated economic growth
mETHODOLOGY
The project team provided a policy and plan review including historic preservation and circulation considerations, conducted an engineering “fatal flaw” analysis, created conceptual designs and conducted both in-person and digital surveys to gather public input, as well as a community meeting to also gather additional community and City department input.
From the first round of community and departmental input an additional concept was developed that refined the improvements based directly on the input the team received. The team then provided another opportunity for public and departmental comments by providing both in-person and digital survey opportunities.
This second set of design concepts was then used to create a planning-level cost projection for the improvements included with the study report.
conceptual design options
The first two conceptual designs for improvements to 8th Street combined elements and ideas provided by City of Albuquerque Parks and Recreation, ARRIVE Hotel executives, and the Downtown MainStreet director. The initial conceptual designs served as a platform to take to the community for their response and for the addition of their own ideas and desires. A third concept was developed in response to the initial survey responses, comments received from City of Albuquerque department staff, and proposed designs developed by the neighborhood association.
8TH STREET ONE-WAY NORTH
8TH STREET LIMITED TWO-WAY STREET
community engagement
For Phase 1, initial surveys were developed to elicit community responses to park improvements, as well as improvements to 8th Street beginning April 30, 2025 with in person feedback opportunities at the Downtown Growers’ Market on May 3, 2025. DAMI also hosted a community meeting to provide updates and collect additional responses June 17, 2025 at FUSION.
Phase 2 included a second survey available digitally starting on September 10th - October 3rd with an additional in person data gathering at the Downtown Growers’ Market on September 13, 2025.
Downtown Growers' Market Outreach, May 3, 2025
community engagement outcomes
The results from community engagement efforts are broken down in the study (pages 22-25) between improvements at Robinson Park and improvements to 8th Street NW. They highlight the park and street improvements that the community feels strongly should be included in any projects that the City of Albuquerque moves forward with including:
pLANNING-LEVEL COST PROJECTIONS
A planning-level cost projection was completed team for the third concept. Optional additional items like the Portland Loo, E-bike charging stations, and water fountain/water bottle filling station are not included in the cost projection analysis.
CONCLUSIONS
The community has a desire for Park improvements that widen the sidewalk, not only within the park but along the eastern edge of the park as well. There is community support for increased electrical infrastructure to support a diversity of programming, and there is support for increasing the lighting infrastructure.
The community also supports creating a “festival street” atmosphere, in line with the Downtown 2050 Albuquerque Redevelopment Plan’s goals, at 8th Street NW. The outreach response indicates there is a community preference to calm traffic with painted crosswalks and street murals. There is also a desire to raise the level of the street so that it is at the current curb level and effectively increases access to street activities and the park.
The positive community support behind improvements to both Robinson Park and 8th Street NW provides the necessary momentum for justifying further research and development of the improvements outlined in this study.