Otay border crossing goes 24/7
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 5, 2003
Traffic between San Diego and Tijuana should flow more smoothly this summer when the Otay Mesa Port of Entry begins operating around the clock for
private vehicles and pedestrians.
Wider use of the Otay Mesa border crossing is expected to ease congestion at the nearby San Ysidro Port of Entry, where hour-long waits during peak
hours have become common in recent years.
The Otay port now operates from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., leaving an 8-hour gap that's filled by San Ysidro, which operates around the clock. The San Ysidro
port processes about 15 million vehicles annually compared with nearly 4 million at Otay, which is eight miles east.
On June 15, Otay will expand its hours to 4 a.m. to midnight. It will operate around the clock beginning in late July, said Adele Fasano, interim San
Diego field operations director of the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
Otay's cargo operation will remain unchanged, Fasano said, open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Fasano said Mexico and
the United States continue discussions to expand those hours.
Otay Mesa is California's largest commercial border port. But for now accommodating regular traffic is a bigger priority.
Binational discussions have focused on alleviating traffic at San Ysidro since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks led to tighter border inspections
and long waits.
Ken Morris, executive director of Crossborder Business Associates, a research firm based in Otay Mesa, said Otay's expanded hours are "long overdue."
"By opening up Otay Mesa that will allow some of the portion of the flow from San Ysidro to go to Otay Mesa," he said. "Right now people show up at
Otay Mesa at 5 a.m. and park and wait until it opens."
Growth in the San Diego-Tijuana region has made it necessary to extend the hours of operation at Otay, which opened in 1985, Fasano said.
"There really wasn't a demand for it when we opened, because there was little development in the area," Fasano said yesterday. But as commerce and
housing on both sides of the border have expanded "we now know that a 24/7 operation is definitely needed."
Staffing at port facilities on both sides of the border will be boosted to keep the Otay port open. California's six land ports near the U.S.-Mexico
border will get 200 new customs, immigration and agricultural inspectors this year, Fasano said.
Jorge Vargas, Mexico's customs director in Tijuana, could not be reached for comment yesterday. But Fasano said Mexican officials have said they'll
try to encourage travelers to use the Otay port.
"We know some people have had difficulty finding the Otay Mesa (port). We've asked Mexican officials that they improve signage, and they said they're
working on it," she said.
Morris said Otay's extended hours will help Tijuana as much as San Diego.
"Tijuana is still growing at a fast rate and it's generally growing south and east," he said. "So the future growth of Tijuana means that people will
be more prone to use Otay Mesa ? but only if it's convenient and if the infrastructure is there to support it. Otherwise they're going to continue
driving all over the city to cross through San Ysidro."
In south San Diego County, freeway extensions are in the works to accommodate eastward growth, he said, and Otay Mesa's extended hours can only help.
Morris' firm will survey border crossers at Otay and San Ysidro later this month for the South County Economic Development Council to determine the
economic benefits of cross-border traffic and identify the main reasons people cross the border.
Alejandra Mier y Teran, executive director of the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce, said most people who cross the border come to shop or work and will
be glad to hear that the Otay port will stay open permanently.
"It will benefit everyone, from top executives who have facilities to go to on both sides of the border to workers who come from Tijuana and have to
be in the production lines by 6 a.m.," she said.
Small businesses in the Otay Mesa area will benefit too.
"Right now everything pretty much dies out at 7 p.m. This measure will revive the retail industry," she said.
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