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Border Crossers Willing to Pay a Fee for New Port of Entry
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=e...
Wait times cost San Diego economy $2 billion
By BARBARA BRY
June 11, 2005
Almost 60 percent of people who cross the border between San Diego and Tijuana-Tecate are willing to pay a crossing fee of $3 to use a proposed
facility east of the current Otay Mesa port of entry, according to a study released Friday by the San Diego Association of Governments and Caltrans.
Delays in crossing the border between San Diego and Baja are costing the region between $2 billion and $2.5 billion in total economic impact, an
amount which is equivalent to the effect of two San Diego Convention Centers, seven Super Bowls, or six Qualcomms in terms of the number of lost jobs,
said Elisa Arias, senior transportation planner for SANDAG, a regional planning organization.
With so much at stake, the region must make an investment in border infrastructure and technology improvements, said Gary L. Gallegos, executive
director of SANDAG. "This study helps us validate that people who cross are willing to pay so we don't have to just rely on Sacramento and Washington,
D.C. to bail us out. We have to figure out how to help ourselves and take advantage of our binational region." Gallegos called for a public-private
partnership to construct a new border crossing that would cost an estimated $200 million to $300 million.
Ascan Lutteroth, a Tijuana business leader, expressed concern that building another port of entry does not solve the problem. "The SENTRI lanes were
working well but they were designed to handle 15,000 users and now there are more than 60,000. First, we have to improve the crossings in the two
ports of entry that we have," he said. On Friday, a third SENTRI lane opened at Tijuana, and a second SENTRI lane is scheduled to open soon in Otay
Mesa.
The SENTRI (Secure Electronic Network for Rapid Inspection) lanes allow pre-screened applicants and vehicles to cross the border into the United
States quickly and more efficiently through the use of a windshield-mounted transmitter.
"The survey is going to be immensely helpful in our efforts to educate the community and our elected officials on the importance of having an
expedited border crossing. As this study shows, Tijuana and San Diego have economies that are inextricably linked," said Viviana Iba?ez, binational
affairs manager for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The study, which surveyed 3,603 border crossers at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Tecate, found that the average wait time is 45 minutes and that more than
60 million trips a year are made across these three ports of entry. More than half of the trips are for shopping or recreation, and nearly 10 million
are for work. Over 90 percent are local and either begin or end in San Diego. When asked their willingness to pay $3 at a proposed east Otay Mesa port
of entry, 59.4 percent said they would use it, 26.5 percent said they would not and 14.2 percent said they would use it sometimes.
A major concern is that increasing congestion and delays may constrain the growth of cross-border trips and result in further output and employment
losses. The economic impact of the current border waits includes $2.2 billion in production losses (about 1.2 percent of San Diego County's total
product) and more than 31,000 lost jobs (about 1.7 percent of the county's labor force).
Later this summer, SANDAG will release a study on the economic impact of wait time delays related to freight, and the lost dollars are expected to be
higher than for people crossings, said Troy Anderson, a SANDAG spokesman. Possible solutions to decreasing border wait times include more
collaboration with Baja on road improvements and infrastructure, the use of toll roads and providing more information to policy makers who control the
money necessary for infrastructure.
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Study: Border delays hit economy hard
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/06/11/news/top_stories/...
By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT
SAN DIEGO ---- The notorious delays to get through the U.S.-Mexico border checkpoints in San Diego County are causing more than just frayed nerves and
overheated engines, according to a report released Friday.
Delays that average about 45 minutes at the San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Tecate checkpoints are also costing the county about $2.2 billion in lost sales
and production annually as well as 31,000 jobs, according to the report from the San Diego County Association of Governments and the California
Department of Transportation.
The agencies say they plan to use the study results to push for a fee that would help pay the cost of building a new border checkpoint, three miles
east of the Otay Mesa border crossing.
Officials with the two agencies met with reporters Friday to discuss the results of a survey conducted between November and February. Some 3,600
people were interviewed as they entered the United States at the three checkpoints, which have more than 60 million crossings each year.
The results of the survey will serve two purposes, said Elisa Arias, a senior transportation planner with association:
To convince the federal government of the urgent need to address waiting times at the border, and make technological improvements that will make
crossing the border more user friendly, while maintaining security.
To encourage the state to institute a $3 fee to access a new port of entry that is being considered about three miles east of the Otay Mesa
checkpoint. The fee would only be charged at the new checkpoint, as people enter and leave the country, officials said.
When border crossers were asked if they would be willing to pay the $3 fee, nearly 60 percent said yes ---- if it meant that their waiting times would
be significantly reduced, according to the report.
While the county will continue to urge federal legislators to make more investments to reduce delays at the border, the fee would allow San Diego
County to take some control over its destiny when it comes to improving traffic flow across the border, said SANDAG Executive Director Gary Gallegos.
"We can't just wait for Washington to bail us out ---- we have to figure out how to help ourselves," Gallegos said.
Because the $3 toll would be charged inside the United States on a road leading to the new checkpoint, it would be under state jurisdiction, Arias
said. The fees would be used to help defray the costs of building the checkpoint, which are expected to run between $200 million and $300 million,
said Pedro Orso Delgado, district director for the California Department of Transportation's district 11.
The idea of charging border crossers fees is not new, Gallegos noted.
"Texas has been doing it for a long time," he said.
In the survey, people were asked about their expected waiting times, how often they postponed shopping and recreational trips into the United States,
at what point they would forgo the trip and how they would spend the money instead.
The retail industry is the biggest victim of the delays, representing more than 90 percent of the revenues lost when people postpone or cancel trips
because of the delays they know await them at the border, according to the report. The net losses to San Diego County retailers are calculated at
$1.18 billion.
More than 3 million potential working hours are lost on waits at the border, translating to a potential loss of $42 million in wages, the report
states.
As people waited in line to cross the border into the United States in cars or at inspection points during the survey, one of the questions asked was
how long they expected it would take to get across. They were then asked how long they would be willing to wait before giving up. That information and
other data were used to make projections on how big an economic impact another 15 minutes in average wait times would have.
The results of those projections show that if waiting times increased by an average of 15 minutes, the county could expect to lose another $1 billion
in sales and another 13,400 jobs, the study showed.
The number of border crossings are expected to double to 120 million a year in the next 20 years, Gallegos said.
Mexico is suffering losses due to the long waiting times as well. The study pegs Baja California's current losses at $120 million a year and $10
million in lost wages.
Gallegos said that Mexican officials also support the idea of an additional border crossing.
"So, synergy is developing and that will help add weight to now rather than later," he said.
In August, SANDAG is expected to release a second phase of the report, showing the effect that border delays are having on trucking and the
transportation of goods across the border.
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SANDAG Proposes Third Border Crossing
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/4597314/detail.html
People Willing To Pay Toll
June 10, 2005
SAN DIEGO -- Those long waits at the border may soon become a thing of the past, NBC 7/39 reported on Friday.
The San Diego Association of Governments issued a long-awaited report on the impact the delays have on the economy. SANDAG said the average wait is 45
minutes and border waits cost the San Diego economy more than $2 billion a year.
The agency proposed a third crossing east of San Ysidro to bring the average time down to 15 minutes.
"One of the things that our survey shows that we just completed is that users may be willing to pay to build another border crossing that's efficient
and safe in terms of people crossing back and forth between here and Tijuana," said Gary Gallegos, SANDAG's executive director.
Approximately 60 percent of those surveyed said they're willing to pay a $3 toll to use a new crossing.
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