Otay Border Crossing Is Opened at Long Last

The long-awaited Otay Mesa border crossing opened Thursday with U.S. and Mexican officials predicting the new port of entry will ease the congestion at San Ysidro and provide an economic boon to the undeveloped areas on each side of the border.

Government officials and politicians from both sides of the border gathered on the American side to give speeches and to celebrate the opening of the crossing, which was first proposed 17 years ago.

The American crossing facilities were completed in April, but the opening was delayed several times because Mexico’s economic woes delayed the construction of the Mexican facilities.

Mexican officials announced the completion of their facilities in November, but the opening was postponed until Thursday.

Shortly after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico John Gavin and Victor Garcia Lizama, director general of Mexican customs, delivered dedication speeches on behalf of their respective governments, the first cars were allowed through the crossing.

Gavin called the new crossing a “significant step” in strengthening the ties that bind the two countries together. He also said the new crossing will divert some of the traffic that goes through the heavily used San Ysidro port of entry, which opened in 1913.

San Ysidro’s port of entry, 4.5 miles west, is the busiest frontier crossing in the world. More than 37 million people walked or drove through the San Ysidro crossing in 1984, said Gavin. According to Gavin, two out of every nine people who cross the U.S.-Mexican border do so at the San Ysidro port of entry.

Homero Reyes, spokesman for the Baja California Office of Economic Development, said the new crossing will mean added development and jobs for the area immediately around it.

Mexican officials said that an estimated 35,000 people have moved to Mesa de Otay in Tijuana since U.S. funding for the crossing was announced in 1981. These officials say that about 70 manufacturing plants are operating in Mesa de Otay, providing about 7,000 jobs. Within the next decade, the population around Mesa de Otay is expected to be 300,000, Mexican officials said.

On the American side is largely undeveloped, agricultural land. The San Diego City Council annexed 3,500 acres to the city in September, and zoned the land chiefly for industrial use. An additional 2,700 acres in the unincorporated eastern portion of the mesa have been set aside for future industrialization.

In September, the council also approved plans for the area’s first major development, the 450-acre Otay International Center industrial-commercial complex. The council’s approval, which was opposed by the city planning staff, was seen by many as the start of a massive industrial development effort in the Otay Mesa area.

The Otay International Center will feature mostly retail shops and office buildings. The city planning staff opposed the project because they argued that the proposed businesses would rely too heavily on vehicular traffic. That traffic, combined with the expected high volume of autos using the new crossing, would choke California 117, the only major east-west road that links Interstate 5 to Interstate 805, the planners said.

Council members unanimously overruled the planning staff and pointed out that the center’s developers were paying for sewer lines to serve the area and a state prison scheduled to be built just north of the crossing.

Construction on the $138-million prison was delayed for six months when state lawmakers balked this week at spending $3 million for a temporary sewage treatment plant for the prison.

The U.S. facilities on Otay Mesa cost $8 million, about $600,000 under the estimated cost, said Ray Kline, acting General Services Administration administrator.

Built especially to facilitate commercial vehicles that travel to and from Mexico, the new crossing will be open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The U.S. facilities include a 23,400-square-foot building that has the capacity to dock 42 trucks at once.

Eight primary auto inspection lanes will be used, but these can be increased to 12 lanes when traffic is heavy.