A Toll Crossing Between the U.S. and Mexico Is Slowly Taking Shape Sandra Dibble - Los Angeles Times
go to original December 30, 2015

The Cross Border Express: US-Mexico Border Airport Changes Security Situation (CCTV America)

At a time when border waits can stretch for hours, the plan seems almost too good to be true: a major new international crossing between Tijuana and San Diego, where trucks and passenger vehicles would wait no more than 20 minutes to reach the border.

Planners in the United States and Mexico are thinking big as they envision Otay Mesa East, a future port of entry that would serve both passenger vehicles and commercial trucks.

Otay Mesa East would be California's first tolled vehicle border crossing, incorporating binational lane management and toll collection. It would be privately financed through bonds in a plan where San Diego Assn. of Governments, or SANDAG, would play the central role.

...Earlier this month, a pedestrian port of entry, the Cross-Border Xpress, launched operations at Otay Mesa, linking Tijuana's A.L. Rodríguez International Airport with San Diego. Privately built and operated, the facility is the only U.S. crossing that connects directly to a foreign airport, offering ticketed airline passengers who pay a toll a chance to cross faster.

Next month, U.S. and Mexican federal officials are preparing for another first on Otay Mesa: the opening of a joint inspection facility for fruit and vegetable shipments where customs officials from both countries are preparing to work side by side. The facility is in Tijuana, near the Otay Mesa commercial port of entry.

For Mexico, the Otay Mesa East port of entry project is "the most important project in the bilateral agenda on border infrastructure," Frías said.

Read the rest at The Los Angeles Times

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