Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias

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Map 6. Transportation

Brad Jacobson & Alma Gloria Sevilla Vigil

Transportation infrastructure and services in the International Border Planning Area serve not only local transportation needs, but also regional and international needs. All of the rapidly growing movement of people and goods between the greater regions of Tijuana and San Diego is funneled through the International Border Planning Area, mainly on surface streets, roads, and highways. The port of entry at Otay Mesa handles all of the commercial truck traffic, including that servicing the maquiladora industry within Tijuana, as well as commercial traffic from Ensenada and Tecate or from San Diego and Los Angeles to the north. The Otay Mesa facility also serves noncommercial vehicles and pedestrians. The San Ysidro Port of Entry handles most of the noncommercial vehicles and pedestrian traffic. Immediately to the west of the San Ysidro-Puerta México crossing is the Virginia Avenue-El Chaparral commercial crossing that has been closed since January 1995. Studies are under way to determine the most appropriate use for this area. Additionally, a new border crossing is now being planned for a site to the east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Significant infrastructure investment is required to improve existing ports of entry and to provide additional capacity to meet future demand.

Ports of Entry

The San Ysidro Port of Entry is particularly problematic for both Tijuana and San Diego. The transportation infrastructure there is congested, with long waiting times for vehicles and difficult and unsafe approaches for pedestrians. Both sides of the border have a disorganized mix of land uses in the vicinity of the port of entry. In addition, the crossing point for a freight railroad line connecting San Diego and Tijuana is located at San Ysidro. Table 1 provides figures for northbound border crossings of persons and vehicles for the period October 1, 1998, to September 30, 1999.

The San Diego light rail passenger system has a terminus at San Ysidro. Numerous bus and van transportation companies link San Ysidro with destinations throughout Southern California. Tijuana has a terminal for intercity buses located in the river valley near the confluence of the Río Alamar and the Río Tijuana.

Tijuana

The City of Tijuana relies on an urban transportation infrastructure based on surface streets, roads, and highways. Rapid urban growth, heavy traffic, and the varied and difficult topography of the city make provision of transportation infrastructure difficult and costly.

Mesa de Otay is separated from the rest of urban Tijuana by the steep slope that drops down into the Tijuana River Valley. Six roads carrying high volumes of traffic now connect the Mesa with the River Zone: Boulevard Cuauhtémoc, Acceso Otay-Buena Vista, Boulevard Lázaro Cárdenas Poniente, Boulevard Lázaro Cárdenas Oriente, Boulevard Manuel J. Clouthier, and the recently opened Boulevard Héroes de la Independencia-Boulevard Héctor Terán Terán. The historic urban core of Tijuana—the area adjacent to Avenida Revolución—is linked to the rapidly growing southeast sector of the city by the Avenida Revolución-Boulevard Agua Caliente-Boulevard Díaz Ordaz corridor. This corridor, characterized by commercial strip development, has a very heavy volume of public transportation. With no overpasses to speed cross traffic, the route is considerably congested. The Paseo de los Héroes and vías rápidas (expressways) provide additional road capacity parallel to this route. The connection of the Zona Centro with Playas de Tijuana to the west is by the four-lane limited access Autopista Playas that traverses the difficult topography of the western hills. The Playas de Tijuana and Otay Mesa sectors of the International Border Planning Area are connected by congested surface streets that traverse the Zona Centro and a belt route, the Libramiento Oriente and Libramiento Sur, that loops around the city to the south.

The International Border Planning Area is linked to the cities of Tecate and Mexicali to the east by a four-lane limited access toll road (Federal Highway 2D). This highway was built and is operated by a private company. The parallel older free road, Federal Highway 2, also provides a connection between Tijuana and Tecate. The western end of the planning area is connected to Rosarito and Ensenada to the south by the Scenic Highway limited access toll road (Federal Highway 1D). The free road to Ensenada connects the Zona Centro to Rosarito and then extends south to Ensenada (Federal Highway 1).

In order to reduce the flow of international and regional traffic through the densely urbanized parts of the International Border Planning Area, local, state, and federal transportation and planning officials are discussing the establishment of a new border crossing to the east of the port of entry at Otay Mesa-Mesa de Otay, referred to as Otay Mesa II-Mesa de Otay II. This new facility will include infrastructure for commercial and noncommercial traffic. It will be connected to the freeway system of the San Diego region and will link to a new beltway around urbanized Tijuana to Rosarito, a project known as Tijuana-Rosarito 2000 Corridor. This new binational corridor will enable commercial traffic and tourists to bypass most of urban Tijuana for trips between Southern California and Rosarito and Ensenada.

The International Boundary Planning Area is served by Tijuana's public transportation network that includes some 250 routes with 6,230 taxis, 1,503 minibuses, and 772 buses. The large number of small capacity taxis that run fixed routes contribute to traffic congestion and transport an inadequate number of passengers. Tijuana is planning a light rail trolley system. The first stage of the project would connect near the terminus of the San Diego trolley at the San Ysidro Port of Entry-Garita Puerta México and would extend 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) along the river zone to Boulevard José de San Martín. The proposed route for the light rail system is indicated on Map 6.

San Diego

The San Diego portion of the International Border Planning Area is linked directly to San Diego and the rest of the United States by Interstate 5 and Interstate 805 that connect with the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The heavily used Otay Mesa Port of Entry is connected to the San Diego freeway system by State Route 905 (SR 905) and Otay Mesa Road, which have recently been improved to six lanes. SR 905 will serve the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and will connect with the planned Otay Mesa II-Mesa de Otay II Port of Entry via State Route 11. A second north/south highway, State Route 125, is planned to connect the Otay Mesa Port of Entry with the freeway system in the east-central portion of the greater San Diego metropolitan area. This new toll highway is a private venture and, when completed, will allow commercial vehicles the option of bypassing the heavily-traveled urban freeways, particularly Interstate 5, in central San Diego.

Public transit between the San Ysidro Port of Entry and San Diego is provided by the San Diego Trolley light rail system. The trolley is used by tourists, commuters, and residents for direct access to the international border, downtown San Diego, major regional shopping centers, and Qualcomm Stadium. It operates each day from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., with departures every 15 minutes, except for peak hours when departures are every 10 minutes. In the fall of 1998 and part of 1999, the average number of daily trolley boardings at San Ysidro was 10,899 and the number of deboardings was 8,974, accounting for some 20 percent of the total passengers on the entire system. The San Ysidro-downtown San Diego line generates the highest level of revenue versus cost of any segment of the entire system. Public passenger transit use may increase as the San Diego Trolley extends its existing lines north and east, including planned service to San Diego State University and to near the University of California at San Diego. The Metropolitan Transit Development Board is planning significant circulation and aesthetic improvements in the vicinity of the San Ysidro Trolley station. A new trolley extension in the South Bay is proposed, connecting National City, the new Otay Ranch community, and the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. When these improvements are completed, access between San Diego and Tijuana for nondrivers will be greatly facilitated.

The International Border Planning Area is served by a freight rail line from San Diego that crosses into Tijuana at San Ysidro. This line extends to Tecate where it crosses back into the United States and continues into the Imperial Valley where it connects to the national U.S. and Mexican rail networks. Although the line is closed into the Imperial Valley, efforts are under way to repair and upgrade this line, which would provide an alternative for moving heavy freight between San Diego and Tijuana and the east. For the period October 1, 1998-September 30, 1999 (fiscal year 1999), 198 northbound trains with 3,572 rail cars crossed the border at San Ysidro.

Airports

The International Border Planning Area currently has two major airports. Brown Field on Otay Mesa is a civil aviation field owned by the City of San Diego. During fiscal year 1999, a total of 3,431 aircraft from international flights landed at Brown Field with 14,411 passengers and crew. An air cargo facility is being considered for that site. Tijuana's Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport is located on Mesa de Otay and is both a passenger and cargo facility. Operation of the Tijuana airport has recently been privatized. The new management has supported efforts to establish a passenger terminal on the U.S. side of the border to facilitate the use of the Tijuana airport by passengers from San Diego. In 1997, there was a total of 1,273,252 arriving passengers and 1,029,973 departing passengers at the Tijuana airport. During that same period, arriving cargo was 29,788 metric tons and departing cargo was 23,305 metric tons, for a total of 53,093 metric tons.

Photo

Toll booth at Playas de Tijuana on Highway 1D. 2000.

Photo

San Diego Trolley Station at San Ysidro. 2000.