Move to Ease Crossing Delays : Extra Border Inspectors for Super Bowl

Attempting to avert massive traffic tie-ups, U.S. authorities say they plan to post additional inspectors and open extra vehicular lanes at the bustling U.S.-Mexico border crossing station at San Ysidro during the week of Super Bowl XXII.

Officials at the U.S. Customs Service and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, which man the border inspection booths jointly, said they will use overtime staff and, in the case of Customs, bring in workers from other areas to assist with the anticipated increase in motorists crossing the border.

The bolstered staff is slated to be available about a week before the Super Bowl game and be added as the traffic dictates, authorities said.

“We’re going to go with the flow, and hopefully provide some good service,” said James Turnage, district director for the INS in San Diego.

However, Turnage and others would not guarantee that monster traffic jams would not develop. “The vagaries of traffic flow are hard to predict,” Turnage said.

Won’t Slack Off on Screening

And officials also stressed that inspectors would not slack off on their screening of vehicles and pedestrians heading into the United States from Mexico.

“We will not allow our enforcement stance to fall off during this time,” said Thomas Shelton, assistant district director for the U.S. Customs Service in San Diego.

Given such comments, some observers said they are doubtful that U.S. officials will commit sufficient manpower to avert the kinds of maddening delays at northbound inspection stations that are endemic at all U.S.-Mexico border crossings, particularly during certain holidays and weekends. Critics have long assailed the current policy of not staffing some inspection booths even while motorists wait an hour or more to enter the United States.

“I’m pessimistic,” said Albert R. Garcia, president of the International Chamber of Commerce, a San Ysidro organization that says it represents 250 businesses on both sides of the border. “I think there’s going to be 2 1/2-hour delays” during the Super Bowl festivities.

Tens of thousands of Super Bowl visitors to San Diego are expected to visit Tijuana; many are staying in Tijuana hotels. South of the border, promoters have unveiled extensive plans aimed at attracting tourists, among them a decision to set up a nighttime pedestrian mall along a four-block stretch of Avenida Revolucion, the city’s main tourist drag.

World’s Busiest Crossing

U.S. and Mexican officials describe the San Ysidro border post--where about 36 million people enter the United States annually--as the world’s busiest international crossing.

For Super Bowl week, Turnage said, authorities planned to maintain about 20 open lanes during peak traffic periods at San Ysidro--up from the 12 lanes usually operating. There are a total of 24 lanes at San Ysidro.

Additional lanes may also be opened at the Otay Mesa crossing, where there are 9 lanes but usually only four in use at any one time. If large backups develop, officials vowed to move swiftly to open additional lanes.

At border crossings from California to Texas, few issues raise the ire of local businessmen and other travelers as much as the lengthy traffic delays that have become as much a part of the border scene as trinket salesmen, Mexican beer and mariachi bands.

Critics have long argued that U.S. authorities should devote more manpower to the crossings, while officials cite other priorities--notably interdiction of drugs and illegal aliens.