Date of Award

2024-05-01

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Civil Engineering

Advisor(s)

Ruey Long Cheu

Abstract

This thesis explores the topic of commercial movements between the El Paso and Ciudad Juarez road networks and the implications of the possible changes in their routing. This area houses several ports of entry, which present one of the busiest commercial and personal border crossings in the whole nation. The primary focus was to evaluate the recently proposed reconstruction scenario of removing trucks from the Bridge of the Americas and study the impacts on the flows throughout the other ports. The chosen tool to support the analysis is a mesoscopic simulation software called DynusT, which is capable of modeling the whole bi-national network and answering questions on a macroscopic scale while still providing a sufficient level of detail. As part of the modeling efforts, a base scenario representing the current transportation network calibrated with traffic flows from 2022 was compared with two alternatives. One scenario simulated the closure of the Bridge of the Americas for commercial trucks without any other provisions. The second scenario included adjustments to the toll rates. The results uncovered that without any additional provisions, the vast majority of trucks would reroute to the nearest Ysleta-Zaragoza port, which would suffer from high volumes, leading to possible deterioration of the quality of service. However, in the second scenario, the toll change led to a nearly 900 % increase in crossing volumes at Tornillo in the southbound direction. This increase could help address the recent concerns about the port's severe underutilization. In order to ensure success, several recommendations were given. The most vital suggestion is to bring the demand closer to the vicinity of Tornillo, relieving the Ysleta port while still enabling the shift of trucks away from the downtown area, paving the path towards a more sustainable, cleaner, safer, and smarter El Paso.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

91 p.

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Marek Musil

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