Development of Ciudad Juarez Traffic Simulation Model in Paramics

The city of Ciudad Juarez is growing, and so is the problem of traffic congestion. Ports of entry are located farther from the recently developed urban areas, and nearby housing complexes have limited capacity for connecting traffic between these homes and the ports of entry. Industrial parks that once were outside the city are now inside the city limits. The researchers used Paramics, a traffic microsimulation software, to create a large-scale traffic simulation model for Ciudad Juarez that focused on major arterials and could be combined with an existing model for El Paso into a binational traffic simulation model for the Ciudad Juarez-El Paso region. The model showed various scenarios of truck paths connecting industrial parks to ports of entry, and clearly showed that traffic congestion in the inner urban areas caused delay on these paths. It also showed that freeways surrounding the city provided reliable access to the ports of entry. The model facilitates planning and construction of roadways connecting to the ports of entry by giving accurate estimates of traffic movement in the area. The model also enables analyses and evaluation of commercial freight movement from the industrial parks in Ciudad Juarez to the ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border. As part of future development, researchers recommend including public transportation networks in the model and increasing the number of field traffic counts to improve the model's reliability.