City is monitoring bike usage to improve cyclist connectivity in El Paso

The City of El Paso has been monitoring bike usage during the summer to determine how best to improve cyclist connectivity.

City officials are establishing a “bike plan” which aims to prioritize bike corridors and figure out what kind of bike facilities are needed for different roadways.

“The city received about $100,000 of federal money to use toward this bike plan program and it won’t just be a bike plan program either. We’re also going to use some of that money for safety and education purposes,” said City spokeswoman Marissa Monroy.

The city installed cameras at five intersections around the city to monitor bike usage. City officials installed the cameras at Hondo Pass, Edgemere, Belvidere, Rushing and Redd Road based on input from local cyclists.

“From there they’re going to gather that data and say this is how much traffic we’re getting in the form of bicyclists. From there, they’ll develop a bike plan and say we should put up bike lanes in that area or no that area is a little dangerous,” said Monroy.

Cameras were set up to record, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. Edgemere and Hondo Pass were conducted in June. Rushing and Belvidere in July and Redd in August, according to Monroy.

After the city calculates the data from the cameras, city officials will start drafting a bike master plan by January.