Proposed expansion in I-10 Downtown could cost over $780 million

EL PASO, Texas [CBS4] — The El Paso County Commissioners Court will be given a review of the I-10 Segment 2 (Downtown) Expansion Proposal in Draft El Paso MPO MTP in Thursday’s meeting.

The review conducted by a third-party consultant, Smart Mobility Inc., found various issues with the Texas Department of Transportation El Paso.

As part of Reimagine I-10 Segment 2, TxDOT proposed expanding I-10 by adding two more lanes from Executive Center to Copia, along with two frontage roads to reduce congestion in the Downtown area.

The cost of the proposed expansion would be $787 million, according to the review.

For his review, Norman Marshall, president of Smart Mobility Inc., looked at traffic data, speed count and the TxDOT El Paso Regional Modeling Files for the 2045 Metropolitan Transportation Plan.

Marshall found expanding I-10 in the Downtown area would not reduce congestion, instead it would bring more short local trips onto the freeway.

“Part of the problem is that there’s often a misunderstanding of what’s causing the congestion and also we have outdated computer tools that don’t actually forecast correctly.”

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TxDOT has stated the heaviest congestion is the proposed segment area and therefore expanding the freeway would reduce congestion.

However, traffic data shows less than 2% of all traffic stays on I-10 from east to west, with more than half of traffic exiting in the Downtown area.

Marshall added trucks are not the problem as through trucks are less than 1% of total traffic, according to the draft report.

Of the two additional lanes TxDOT has proposed, one would serve as a general purpose lane and the other as a transit-adaptive lane.

The problem with the transit-adaptive lane is TxDOT has not explained in detail what their purpose would be, according to Marshall.

Marshall further explained that transit-adaptive lanes appear similar to toll lanes, which are politically hard to sell in Texas.

“The idea is with the toll lane you’ll have the general purpose lanes that will be congested and the people who can buy out of that can get a faster ride but the only reason they would pay of course, that is if the general lanes are congested.”

Additional problems with the transit-adaptive lane are improper use, restricted use, would require general traffic to cross 4-6 general purpose lanes to enter and exit and most likely wouldn’t permit trucks.

Rather than expanding, one of Marshall’s recommendations is to consider a street collector distributor concept to the west of Downtown.

While it has not yet been implemented, it’s an idea being talked about in alternative planning.

“The idea is you keep the local traffic off the road, you keep it on the streets and therefore you let the freeway operate as an express facility. And yes people would argue that’s going to slow up some of those local trips by a couple of minutes because you’re not going to be able to jump right on the 60 mile road,” said Marshall.

The major issue with the I-10 Segment 2 Expansion Proposal review is it’s based on the Metropolitan Transportation Plan for 2045, instead of the MTP 2050 plan, according to Marshall.

To watch the County Commissioners meeting click here.

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