Yearly Average Of Roadway Delay Time Averages One Day

EL PASO, TX – The amount of time El Pasoans spend on the road has doubled during the last decade.

According to figures released by the Texas Transportation Institute, El Pasoans spent nearly one day a year on the roadways in 2005.

“I don’t see us stopping this delay time…we may slow it down a little bit,” said an official with the Texas Department of Transportation (TX-DOT).

In 2004, the average was 22 hours. In 1995, the average was 10 hours and in 1985, the year the study was started,the average was only three hours.

Local officials with TX-DOT reaffirmed the numbers in the study. They also stated the number of time residents spend on the roads is expected to continue rising despite numerous projects meant to ease congestion.

In national figures, El Paso is tied with Honolulu at number 51 when it comes to delay time. The city is still well below the national average of 38 hours.

City officials said the increase is significantly high and will factor into future decisions regarding city infrastructure. One suggestion that has recently come to the City Council’s attention is to ban semi trucks from some of the main highways in the city and making them use alternate routes such as Loop 375.

“It’s only going to get worse if we allow growth to continue unchecked at the fringes of the city, if we only build more car lanes as a solution to our transportation problems and if we don’t look to mass transit and some alternative mobility solutions as a way of fixing this problem,” said City Representative Beto O’ Rourke.

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Written and reported for broadcast by Darren Hunt

Written for the web by Joe Villasana