This is interesting. This is the big crossing at Tijuana south of San
Diego. With a 15 minute wait it will soon be more practical to live in
Northern
Baja and commute across the border (I know folks that do it already
but they
talk about it taking an hour or two to cross and that's silly).

The last time that I crossed there I gave the guy my passport and he
just
read the bar code and motioned for me to go ahead. Simple. So
presumably with
the new laws requiring passports for all border crossers we will see
the
system streamlined.

The next Key West has to be down there somewhere.

~~~~~

By Janine Zuñiga
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

5:21 p.m. February 26, 2008

SAN YSIDRO - Federal officials are planning a major expansion of the
San
Ysidro port of entry to accommodate the growing number of travelers -
more than
50,000 vehicles and 25,000 pedestrians daily - heading into the United
States.

Construction may begin this summer on the $577 million project that
will
increase the number of lanes in each direction and realign southbound
lanes. The
project will include larger, more sophisticated administration
buildings, as
well as state of the art primary and secondary inspection areas.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, who has lobbied state and federal
officials
for the project's funding since taking office, said Tuesday the
expansion is "
critically important to our region's future economic health."

"We need to move this project forward," said Sanders, speaking at the
border.

The U.S. General Services Administration, the government's real
estate
manager, is working on architectural and engineering designs, and on
an
environmental review. The expansion plan would be the largest border-
crossing project
ever for GSA.

"It's going to be an incredible landmark," said GSA Administrator
Lurita
Doan. "Given how many people come through the port of entry, it will
be a chance
for us to show them something really amazing."

Doan said funding is on track. Congress has approved $231 million
since 2004
for the project, including $197 million in the 2008 budget. Another
$59
million is proposed for the 2009 federal budget. The rest will be
proposed for
future budgets.

The number of vehicles crossing the border is expected to increase by
up to
70 percent by 2030, according to a San Diego Association of
Governments study.
San Diego County loses nearly $1.3 billion in potential revenue each
year
from people who don't cross the border because of bottlenecks, another
study
found.

"Quite simply, we need a border wait time of 15 to 30 minutes, and
the
technology to keep us well within that range," said San Ysidro Chamber
of Commerce
executive director Jason Wells.

Wells organized the Smart Border Coalition, an association of business
and
community groups whose members were concerned when plans included the
loss of
private property. GSA has since reduced the amount of land it planned
to take.

Ramon Riesgo, who heads GSA's National Border Station Program, said
another
recent coalition-inspired change to the project was the addition to
the draft
design of a second pedestrian entry to Mexico east of Interstate 5.
Currently, pedestrians enter Mexico only on the west side.

Wells said border businesses live or die based on waits at the
world's
busiest land-border crossing. He said businesses countywide depend on
partners,
employees and customers south of the border.

Due to prior expansions and renovations at the 32-year-old border
crossing,
sensitive inspection areas and offices are next to a busy pedestrian
bridge.
Holding cells and areas for confiscated drugs are next to rooms for
travelers
awaiting documents.

Plans call for the expanded port to cover 225,000 square feet of
federal
land, and several privately owned parking lots and a duty-free store.
The
government may take the land, but Riesgo said GSA officials are
talking with the
land owners. The duty-free store may be relocated to nearby property.

An expanded southbound I-5 will veer west just before the border then
south
to an area at the border used in the past for commercial inspections.

Sanders said Tuesday that Mexican officials are working with their
U.S.
counterparts to accommodate the new crossing.

The project's first phase includes acquiring property and construction
of
northbound lanes. A second phase includes northbound inspection
buildings, and a
third phase includes the southbound roadway and renovation of a 1930s
port
building.

Once the design and environmental review are completed, GSA will seek
development proposals. The port will remain open during construction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--PirateJohn--
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