Response to Increased Commercial Traffic : U. S. Moves to Expand Customs Border Station

In hopes of relieving congestion at the U.S.-Mexico border, the federal government has begun taking steps toward expanding the Otay Mesa U.S. Customs facility for commercial traffic.

On Tuesday the House of Representatives approved by a 301-96 vote a funding bill that recommends the General Services Administration buy 16 acres along the Mexican border. On Monday, the GSA took out an option with Otay International Center to purchase the land, worth an estimated $6.5 million.

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week.

Federal officials hope that through the option, which expires Aug. 31, they will be able to purchase the land. Expansion plans call for at least doubling the current 52 docking spaces where customs officers check the commercial vehicles carrying parts from maquiladora plants in Tijuana.

The rapid growth rate of the maquiladoras , plants used by manufacturers for preliminary assembly of products in Tijuana before they are returned to factories in the United States for final assembly, have increased the flow of commercial vehicles crossing the border.

“The growth rate of the maquilas is over 26%, and it’s accelerating beyond that,” said Dan Pegg, president of the San Diego Economic Development Corp. “Even though commercial traffic is at its threshold, the demands are going to increase substantially and rapidly.”

According to U.S. Customs figures quoted by the development corporation, the amount of commercial products passing through the crossing rose from 145,039 truckloads in 1986 to about 204,000 truckloads in 1987.

But, despite the option, a major problem persists for those favoring expansion. The Mexican government wants to expand its customs facilities to the south, a move that is incompatible with U.S. plans.

If the countries were to expand in directions that don’t correspond, trucks would be forced off the highways, said Paul Leonard, a legal assistant in Rep. Bill Lowery’s office.

“We want to have operations as smooth as possible and to conform to the highway,” said Leonard. “They want to keep the trucks on the highway or as close to the highway as possible.”

Expansion Plans

The U.S. government wants to expand to the east, along the border. The government contends that developments to the north, the only other possible direction in which it could expand, block efforts to extend in that direction.

Construction along the border during the last four years has transformed nearly barren land into prime commercial territory.

“When the government first built the Otay Mesa facility,” said Tina Kreisher, a spokeswoman from Lowery’s office, “they looked into the year 2000 and thought they had it all set. They hadn’t counted on the new development projects.”

Still, Pegg said, the dispute over expansion directions is minor and can be resolved quickly.

“It’s not really a problem,” he said. “It’s more of a lack of communication. They’ve bent over backward to be helpful.”

In spite of this, the federal government is examining other alternatives. It is looking into the purchase of land owned by the Trammell Crow Co. and leased by various businesses.