Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias
Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias| Tijuana, Basic Information Page 2 | ||
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these vehicles tend to produce inordinate amounts of pollutants. Approximately eight times as many motor vehicles are registered in San Diego County as in the Municipality of Tijuana. Rail Transportation Tijuana is served by a rail link from San Diego for freight that is connected to the U.S. rail transportation system. Currently, there are proposals to directly link Tijuana and San Diego to the Imperial Valley and to national rail systems in the United States and in Mexico through Mexicali. This would be accomplished by upgrading and repairing the existing line that runs in Mexico from Tijuana to Tecate and across the border to the Imperial Valley The San Ysidro border checkpoint is the southern terminus for the San Diego Trolley light rail passenger system. A proposal to extend the trolley into Tijuana is slowly moving forward, and if completed, would facilitate transportation within Tijuana as well as travel between Tijuana and San Diego. Border Crossings The Municipality of Tijuana is served by two border crossings into the United States, one at Otay Mesa and one at San Ysidro. Most commercial traffic is handled by the facility at Otay Mesa. A bottleneck exists both for cargo and person crossings at these facilities, due to lack of physical infrastructure and inadequate staffing by the U.S. authorities, often only 70 percent of full staffing. Largely responsible for the delays are U.S. requirements to closely check documentaton of persons crossing into the United States, inspection of all cargo, and careful scrutiny of all persons as part of the drug interdiction effort. Increased use of technology at the crossings, better management practices, increased staffing, and better cooperation between U.S. and |
Mexican authorities have recently reduced waiting times for crossing into the United States. However, a new U.S. federal law requires the Immigration and Naturalization Service to check visas of non-U.S. residents departing from land ports of entries. If fully enforced, this law would cause significant bottlenecks of vehicular and pedestrian traffic crossing into Tijuana due to the lack of adequate infrastructure and personnel. The number of amount of cargo crossing the border has grown in the past few years, and all indications are that this trend will continue. 1994 northbound crossings at San Ysidro: Non-U.S. . . . . . . 30,423,921 U.S. . . . . . . 14,984,917 Vehicles . . . . . . 15,945,888 1994 northbound crossings at Otay Mesa: Non-U.S. . . . . . . 6,301,764 U.S. . . . . . . 3,103,913 Vehicles . . . . . . 4,199,869 For 1994, nearly 55 million individuals crossed northbound into San Diego. Some 65 percent of these crossers were Mexicans. Over the past decade, the percentage of crossers who are Mexicans has steadily increased. With the inauguration of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on January 1, 1994, commercial traffic at ports of entry has increased rapidly. In 1994, there were 600,000 heavy-duty truck northbound crossings at Otay Mesa; in 1995 this figure had increased to more than 1.5 million. In 1999, a number of proposals are being considered for the expansion of border crossing facilities. The proposal to construct a new port of entry to the east of the Otay Mesa crossing would link to a belt route south of the urbanized area of Tijuana and would connect with the Ensenada highway. |
Port Services Tijuana has no seaport, but it is served by the Port of San Diego, the Port of San Pedro in Los Angeles, and the Port of Ensenada. San Diego has little cargo/container handling capacity. Currently, there is a project underway to significantly expand the cargo/container capacity of Ensenada in order to provide a better link with Pacific Basin and a lower cost alternative to Los Angeles. If the rail and highway bottleneck between Baja California and the interior of Mexico can be eliminated, there would be significant potential for expansion of shipping via Ensenada. Such an effort would also work to better link Tijuana with the Mexican economy and with the international economy of the Pacific Basin. Air Transportation Tijuana is served by the General Abelardo L. Rodríguez airport, adjacent to the international border on Otay Mesa. During the first three quarters of 1998, there were 23,539 arriving and departing flights, serving 1,253,426 passengers. Total freight handled by the airport during this same period was 33,990 metric tons. Since 1956, there have been proposals circulation, mainly in San Diego, for establishment of a new regional airport on Otay Mesa to serve both San Diego and Tijuana. Recently, the Twinports proposal called for a binational facility that would utilize Brown Field, a civil aviation airport just north of the border, and the Tijuana airport. Unfortunately, the project was handled poorly by the U.S. proponents, strong opposition was voiced by some sectors in San Diego, and a combination of indifference and active opposition existed in Tijuana. Thus, the proposal is stalled, and as Otay Mesa is built out, the opportunity for the binational facility will be lost. A current proposal calls for extending the runway at Rodríguez Field and constructing of a passenger terminal on the U.S. side of the border to facilitate access from San Diego. |
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