Data Collection

One of the challenges that El Paso is facing given that we are three states and two countries, are the various ideas of regionally significant improvements to the transportation network. Collecting data and strategically integrating planning documents will provide sufficient information to drive the decisions that will shape our region and improve the mobility. El Paso seeks to increase key data point collection providing a snapshot of the condition of our network to more systematically guide data-drive decision making in operations and planning. The City of El Paso is currently developing the Eastside Masterplan, an area within the city that is rapidly growing. The El Paso region is anticipated to grow 35-70% by 2050, and the expansive patterns of urban development do not enable easy and affordable access to critical services. The collaboration of utilizing these two planning tools to aggregate the data systematically while focusing on managed growth and placing vital infrastructure as needed will support the dynamic changes in this area of the city.

Intelligent Transportation Systems

The City of El Paso has been awarded $32M through the Rider 44 bill which will result in the installation of an Intelligent Transportation Systems at the Bridge of the Americas and Zaragoza port of entry that will be utilized to increase security measures and expedite trade. The project will integrate a complex system using computers and communications to ensure smarter, faster, safer and more efficient travel. The project will work toward achieving regional ITS initiatives that are multi-jurisdictional, multi-modal, and consistent with regional integration. The project will include dynamic message signs, closed-circuit television cameras, radar vehicle sensing devices, Bluetooth readers, automatic vehicle identification devices, to include miles of fiber optic cable and conduit. The project will complement existing TxDOT TransVista and city of El Paso’s Streets & Maintenance traffic management systems, and provide data sharing capabilities among stakeholder agencies such as Customs and Border Protection (CPB), General Services Administration (GSA) and El Paso Police. This project will address current and anticipated future security needs, as video feeds will be remotely monitored jointly by TransVista. Overall the project will improve agencies’ ability to communicate real-time traffic conditions to the traveling public, improve traffic operations at the ports, improve the reliability and efficiency of ports, which are major component in the freight infrastructure network, and reduce congestion.

Electrification

Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification. ASPIRE is funded by NSF with the vision to achieve a sustainable future for transportation through widespread electrification of roadway vehicles. ASPIRE strives to develop charging solutions that provide power to all classes of vehicles both while parked and in-motion. Achieving this vision requires entirely new lines of thinking on how city, highway and electrical grid infrastructure are planned; how new innovative infrastructure is integrated; how vehicles and operators interact with those systems; and how to integrate objectively private sector partners and public resources. The University of Texas at El Paso is a partner organization in the ASPIRE team, along with Utah State University, University of Colorado Boulder, Purdue University and University of Auckland in New Zealand. At the heart of the ASPIRE is integration of fundamental knowledge research in the four convergent research areas broadly categorized under Power, Transportation, Data, and Adoption. The transformational innovation and value creation anticipated is in the new directions formed at the intersection of the convergent research areas. New fundamental insights will be gained in methods and materials to integrate charging infrastructure into long life pavements. New data science innovations in data fusion, complex optimization, and co-simulation diverse data sets of electrical grids, transportation systems, and vehicles and end users will have game changing impact on systems design and optimization. New economic, behavioral, and social science models and frameworks will be developed to allow the team to break out of conventional thinking when considering the societal, policy, consumer and market perspectives of and integration with technology elements. New enabling technologies will be developed in smart powered parking, roads, and charging hubs and validated through a robust testbed program with systems-level testbeds and a suite of supporting enabling technology testbeds across the partner campuses.