elgatoloco - 10-2-2008 at 09:51 AM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20081002-9...
Progress is seen on new border crossing
Governor signs bill allowing for tollway
By Steve Schmidt
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 2, 2008
San Diego-area officials said yesterday they reached a milestone in the campaign to ease traffic along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation late Tuesday that allows for the construction of a tollway and border crossing east of the Otay Mesa
Port of Entry.
It's a huge breakthrough for us, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said.
Sanders said Schwarzenegger's backing means construction of the long-awaited crossing, along with the toll road, could start as soon as 2011. The
2.1-mile road originally had been planned as a freeway.
Officials say nearly the entire cost of the development about $800 million would be covered through toll fees.
The new crossing still requires formal White House approval. Sanders and others said they expect this week's development to speed up that process.
Alejandra Mier y Teran, executive director of the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce, said the additional crossing would ease travel and trade between the
United States and Mexico. Northbound traffic can back up for 90 minutes or more at the existing San Ysidro crossing.
Mier y Teran noted that about $30 billion in goods pass through the Otay Mesa crossing area each year, often under bottleneck conditions. A new port
of entry, she said, is absolutely the only long-term solution to reducing wait times.
State Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, who introduced the bill signed Tuesday, agreed.
The main thing is to get ourselves an additional way to remove congestion along the border, Ducheny said.
Ducheny's bill known as SB 1486 grew out of concerns that the federal government would delay a new crossing because of a lack of money, and that a
different funding source was needed.
Gary Gallegos, executive director of the San Diego Association of Governments, said the federal government is so strapped for money that it can't make
adequate improvements at its existing ports, let along open a new one.
The toll road would be operated by SANDAG and would connect the new crossing to nearby state Route 905. Gallegos said it could be completed by 2013.
The road, known as state Route 11, has been in the works for more than a decade, originally as a conventional highway.
In signing Ducheny's bill, Schwarzenegger said it's critical the toll rates are adequate to cover the construction of the road and crossing.
Gallegos said toll income also would help cover the cost of federal operations at the new port of entry, where officials hope to provide an upgraded
level of inspection services for commercial trucks and other vehicles.
State transportation officials have allocated $75 million in voter-approved bond money toward the project, he said.
Bruce R Leech - 10-2-2008 at 10:15 AM
the feds will really drag there feet on that project