There are not enough bicycle lanes throughout the city. (©iStockphoto/imagedepotpro)

Bicycling is good for El Pasoans, but El Paso ignores bicycles

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EL PASO – The winds whistled by swiftly as I held a tight grip on the handlebars on bumpy pavement pocked with potholes and loose gravel. Suddenly, I was startled by a truck passing me too closely and lost my balance, falling off the bicycle. The truck didn’t bother to stop. I was fortunate enough to not get seriously injured, but other cyclists have not been as lucky. Just a few days ago, a 54-year-old man riding his bicycle east on Pebble Hills Blvd.

(Raymundo Aguirre/Borderzine.com)

El Paso tops Newsweek’s List of “Can-do Capitals,” but can it really do?

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EL PASO – It’s a tale of one city with three different stories. There are three contrasting viewpoints on the placement of El Paso at the top the list of “Can-do Capitals” published by Newsweek Magazine last month. Based on data from the federal government and Moody’s (an economic research company), the border city was named America’s Can-do capital, first on a list of 200 U.S. cities. The recent Moody’s study rated the cities in four different  categories –sustainability, transportation & infrastructure, business development and livability. Each index was graded on a scale of 0-25 points, with all four aspects totaling 100 points.

El Paso, the safest city in the U.S. by fact, the most dangerous by media coverage. (José Luis Trejo/Borderzine.com)

Growing congestion on border bridges can stifle business and kill jobs

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EL PASO – An expected doubling of the populations of Cd. Juárez and El Paso by 2035 would cause dramatic delays at the border bridges resulting in a threat to business in both cities instead of providing larger markets. By 2035 the combined population of both cities is expected to reach 3.4 million, compared to 1.1 million in 1980 and nearly 2 million today. According to a study by the Texas Department of Transportation, the continuous population growth will cause wait times on international bridges to increase from two hours today to almost four hours 25 years from now. The extended wait times will provoke a negative effect in El Paso-Juárez business, said Dr. Gary Hedrick, assistant professor of finance at the University of Texas at El Paso.

El Paso traffic deaths are on the rise in 2011

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EL PASO – The young woman was found lifeless, inside her Pontiac Solstice, submerged in the Franklin canal under 10 feet of icy, cold water. According to police, Corina Bejarano, 21, was driving at high speed on Saturday October 23, 2010 at approximately 1:30 a.m. with her headlights off, when she missed a curb, drove off the Cesar Chavez Highway and flew over two embankments of railroad tracks into the canal. She remained under water for more than four hours before police pulled her out. Bejarano’s death is just one of thousands of fatalities that happen every year in Texas. According to the Texas Peace Officers Crash Report (click here to download the report), 2,793 traffic accident deaths were reported in Texas in 2009.

Red-light cameras sting culprits but save lives

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EL PASO — After celebrating the 4th of July and enjoying the fireworks, an unexpected flash ruined the night. Driving down Socorro Road in her 2005 green Nissan Altima, Cynthia Villela did not think that a right turn on North Loop Drive would result in a $75 citation. “I stopped at a red light and I did not fully yield on turning right so that cost me a ticket,” Villela said. Three weeks after the incident, Villela was notified by mail that she had to pay a fine for running a red light camera. The city of El Paso began a red-light enforcement program on October 2006, which issued violation notices to vehicle owners who were captured by a camera running a red light.

Critics cite new driving test expensive and ineffective

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Texas new driving course

EL PASO, Texas — According to the Texas Department of Transportation almost 20 percent of automobile accidents are caused by adult drivers, ages 18-24. Since March, 2010, a new Texas driver’s license law has been in effect. For the first time driver license applicants from the ages 18 to 24 must now receive a certificate which states they have successfully completed and passed the six-hour adult driving course by the Texas Education Agency, before they can take the standard driving test to receive their driver’s license. This course, which costs $100, can be taken online or in person, but it has provoked speculation whether it is really necessary and whether it will be effective. This new law, Senate Bill 1371 passed by the 81st Texas Legislature last year, incorporates two series of tests, one which is highway signs and traffic laws.