Heart Health: City of El Paso’s Complete Streets policy promotes healthy living

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)- As part of our monthly Heart Health segment in collaboration with the American Heart Association ABC-7 sat down with Joaquin Rodriguez, Transportation Planning Administrator for the City of El Paso, to discuss how the city’s Complete Streets policy promotes healthy living.

Rodriguez said the policy was adopted by city council in 2022 and was a way to start rethinking the way streets are designed to include it to be more user friendly and safety focused.

“And it really prioritizes all users of streets that can include people riding bikes, pedestrians, folks who are using mobility devices, really just focusing on providing an inviting environment that's walkable and that encourages people to get out and get active and start creating connections that aren't vehicle connections between a lot of our different facilities, a lot of our different amenities throughout the city,” he said.

Rodriguez said the city is currently on the search for members to serve on the Mobility Advisory Committee focused on getting a broad cross-section of perspectives from the public to hold them accountable as staff for implementing the Complete Streets policy, but also to provide a different viewpoint on design standards, on design practices.

“We're in the application phase. So all members of the public are encouraged to apply. If you're a teacher, encourage your students to apply. We really want to have as broad a cross-section as possible,” he said.