City-Owned Traffic Signs, Cameras To Warn Drivers Of Congestion

The city of El Paso is working on a way to help drivers avoid congestion on Interstate 10 and other El Paso roadways.

City engineers are working on installing seven digital signs around the city to warn motorists of upcoming congestion. The signs are similar to those that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) uses to warn motorists of traffic backups on I-10. Currently, there is nothing to warn drivers before they get onto I-10.

The $2.8 million project also includes 22 cameras that will be used to monitor traffic and feed the information to the city’s traffic management center and TxDOT. The money for the project comes from a federal grant.

“We identified areas that we could use to notify the public and to identify potential incidents so that we can route traffic or reroute traffic accordingly to better respond to congestion or accidents,” said Samuel Rodriguez, an engineering manager with the city.

One motorist said that there’s a deeper problem. “Yes, it’s nice to know that I-10 is congested, but when it’s congested, then Mesa gets all backed up and Stanton gets all backed up. So yeah, you can know about it but there’s not always a way around it.” Alana Bach said.

Another driver said he was grateful for the heads-up.

“It would give drivers a chance to kind of slow down and be aware of oncoming traffic, because I do catch myself driving down the street and I do see a bunch of traffic, and I have to suddenly slow down and it could be kind of dangerous”, said Alec Sherod.

The project should be completed by October, Rodriguez said.

Below are the locations for the digital signs:

East Redd Road west of I-10 Doniphan Park Circle @ Doniphan Drive Doniphan Park Circle @ Sunland Park Drive Sunland Park Drive @ Machuca Drive Executive Center Boulevard northeast of I-10 Airway Boulevard west of Convair Road Airport Drive south of Leigh Fisher Boulevard

Below are the locations for the cameras:

Airport Drive @ Founders Boulevard Airport Drive @ Leigh Fisher Boulevard Airport Drive @ Edgemere Boulevard Airway Boulevard @ Viscount Boulevard North Mesa Street @ Brentwood Avenue Doniphan Drive @ West Redd Road Doniphan Drive @ Sunland Park Drive Doniphan Drive @ East Sunset Road Geronimo Drive @ Edgemere Boulevard South Santa Fe Street @ West Paisano Drive South Piedras Street @ East Paisano Drive North Campbell Street @ East Missouri Avenue Helen of Troy Drive @ North Resler Drive Black Ridge Drive @ North Resler Drive East Redd Road @ North Resler Drive North Mesa Street @ Sunbowl Drive Viscount Boulevard @ Hawkins Boulevard Railroad Drive @ Diana Drive Railroad Drive @ Hondo Pass Drive Hondo Pass Drive @ Dyer Street