Park visitation has increased in 5 of the last 6 years FY07 - 4% up FY08 - 23% up FY09 - 22% up FY10 - 7 % down FY11

1 - 20% up FY12 - 11% up FY12 is the highest visitation recorded with 43,593 accounted visitors (not including volunteers, staff working on daily basis, ARMY and Law enforcement conducting training, etc. etc. they count towards the traffic estimates) Projecting an average of 12% increase in visitation every year we have the following FY13 48824.16 FY14 54683.0592 FY15 61245.0263 FY16 68594.42946 FY17 76825.761 FY18 86044.85232 FY19 96370.23459 FY20 107934.6627

Our estimations are that approximately 40,000 vehicles entered and exited the Tom Mays Unit during FY12. That gives us an average of 109 entry-exit vehicles per day. However the average of entry-exit vehicles per weekend is 393. TxDOT projections for average daily vehicle traffic on Trans-Mountain Road passing by the Tom Mays Unit Entrance is 40,000 by 2015. Projecting a yearly increase of 12%, approximately 530 vehicles will be entering/exiting the Tom Mays Unit on weekends by FY15. Or an average 265-300 on Saturdays during FY15. Comparing these number with TxDOT projections of 40,000. Assuming that 60% of the traffic occurs during 10 hour 7:30 - 17:30- period of park operations; 24,000 vehicles / 36,000 seconds = 1 vehicle every 2 seconds passing thru the park entrance. The issue is not necessary the number of vehicles entering exiting the Tom Mays Unit, but the interaction with the increased traffic and lane expansion on Loop 375. In other words close to 100% of vehicles entering or exiting the Tom Mays Unit will encounter traffic on Loop 375, increasing the risk of collisions, if no safer conditions are met.

FY12 Self-pay Weekends Staff POV Community Service Waiver Staff Work-related (average 12 exits and entries per day - park operations) Volunteers (Average 1000 vehicle entries per year) Law Enforcement and Military Training (Average 12 per year with average 30 vehicles per training) Emergencies (average 4 emergencies at Tom Mays per year with average 12 vehicles per incident) Special Events Estimated number of unregistered vehicles (approximately 2 per day) School Buses RVs

Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug TOTAL 316 302 385 349 455 363 537 426 306 268 346 264 4317 651 669 573 300 937 844 906 671 739 669 922 729 8610 124 123 111 109 127 111 119 110 114 108 99 104 1359 32 18 7 4 26 50 69 28 52 69 57 43 455 37 75 21 40 31 32 14 6 59 63 15 35 428

FY13

FY14

9643.2 10800.38

180 100

186 80

180 80

186 80

186 80

174 80

186 80

180 100

186 180 186 80 80 80

186 80

2196 1000

30

30

30

30

30

30

30

30

30

30

30

30

360

12 150

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 60

0 100

0 100

0 0

0 0

12 0

12 0

12 0

48 410

60 4 10

60 4 10

60 0 5

60 6 5

60 0 5

60 0 5

60 10 5

60 16 5

60 10 0

60 0 0

60 0 5

60 0 5

TOTAL Traffic in and out of the Tom Mays Unit per year Average Traffic in and out of the Tom Mays Unit per day Average Traffic in and out of the Tom Mays Unit per weekend (SatSun)

720 50 60 20013 40026 109.3607 393.1538 432.8923 477.3994

Estimated values

Cesar Mendez, Ph. D. Park Superintendent Franklin Mountains State Park 1331 McKelligon Canyon Road El Paso, Texas, 79930 Ph: 915-566-6441 ext. 222 Fax: 915-566-1834 Cesar.Mendez@tpwd.state.tx.us

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