Introduction

         Traffic congestion is a part of everyday life in El Paso. Interstate 10 is the major transportation artery in the area. Congestion on I-10 is sure to delay travel time on daily commute. During mid-day, the freeway begins to back up as major intersections become heavily populated. There are not many alternatives to driving a private vehicle.  To alleviate this growing problem, our group is proposing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system be implemented in the city of El Paso. El Paso currently uses the Sun Metro transit service which maintains an average of 50 routes in an area covering 250 square miles.  This large area of coverage creates a problem because a ten mile trip that would take twenty minutes in a car can take more than an hour on the bus due to frequent stops, inefficient loading and unloading of passengers, and traffic congestion. The BRT system is an effective, low cost solution with promising results shown in multiple cities throughout the world. The first step in the implementation of a BRT system is to conduct a traffic impact analysis. To analyze the effects of the BRT, our team has selected the intersection of Hawkins and Gateway West for evaluation.