Funds OKd for Design of New I-5 Checkpoint

Congress has authorized $2.7 million for design and engineering work on a new Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 5 in northern San Diego County, U. S. Sen. Pete Wilson, R-Calif., said Tuesday.

The funds, Wilson said, represent the first federal monetary commitment to a Border Patrol plan, announced last year, to replace the existing four-lane checkpoint, long a bottleneck on the busy corridor between San Diego and Los Angeles. The existing site, which is often closed to ensure traffic safety, is in the northbound lanes of I-5 about 5 miles south of San Clemente.

Land Transfer OKd

The Border Patrol is seeking to build a checkpoint of up to 16 lanes at the Las Pulgas Road exit of Interstate 5, about 5 miles south of the current site. The Marine base at Camp Pendleton has already agreed to transfer 15 acres for the project.

The total cost of the checkpoint expansion is estimated at $22 million to $25 million, said Michael Wooton, southern California coordinator for Wilson. The initial $2.7 million for design and engineering costs was included in the 1988 Omnibus Drug Bill, which was passed by the Senate last week and is awaiting President Reagan’s signature.

(Apart from recording arrests of about 55,000 illegal aliens, agents posted at the checkpoint last year netted 128 narcotics seizures, confiscating drugs valued at more than $3.6 million, officials said.)

Despite the availability of the initial funds, the new checkpoint site is not expected to be ready for 3-5 years. Future money remains a question mark.

The Border Patrol considers its system of checkpoints on northbound highways critical tools in controlling illegal immigration. The checkpoints are situated on more than a dozen major roads leading from the U.S.-Mexican border to the U.S. interior. The 17-year-old San Clemente checkpoint is the busiest in the nation; about 5,580 vehicles pass though each hour during peak times. With such a volume of traffic, the inspections often result in massive traffic backups.

Dale W. Cozart, chief Border Patrol agent in San Diego, has called the checkpoint expansion a high priority.