SAN DIEGO — The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry was supposed to open to traffic in 2024. Planners want to build it two miles east of the current Otay Mesa crossing.
“We're building a 21st century border with a business model that doesn't exist anywhere,” said Mario Orso, CEO of SANDAG.
But construction delays have now pushed the opening date as far off as 2028, according to the San Diego Association of Governments.
“We will not be able to give you an exact open-to-traffic date,” a staff member announced at the SANDAG Board meeting in May.
South of the border, the Mexican government said its work on the port of entry will be finished in September, and that side of Otay Mesa East will have to wait until construction is finished in the United States.
During the May meeting, SANDAG staff blamed the delays on negotiations with Customs and Border Protection and the General Services Administration. Those are the federal agencies that would normally be in charge of building a port of entry.
In this case, however, SANDAG and Caltrans are building it using a unique funding source. The $1.3 billion border crossing will collect tolls on vehicles.
The toll revenue will allow Otay Mesa East to get built earlier, according to SANDAG, and reduce wait times at the border.
“It was decided that we were going to help ourselves by helping the federal government,” said Orso.
Orso was hired by SANDAG after the former CEO, Hasan Ikhrata, resigned last year amid toll-collecting errors and mismanagement of the State Route 125 toll road.
Orso is now overseeing the transition to a new tolling system for State Route 125, operated by a new company. That new system may also be used to collect future tolls at Otay Mesa East, raising some concerns.
“A possible question is, ‘Hey, you know, we're having issues on the 125 so how can you get your act together on this one that may be a little bit more complicated,’” said Orso during the May meeting.
Over the next 40 years, SANDAG and Caltrans plan to share an estimated $8 billion in toll revenues from Otay Mesa East in a 50/50 split with Mexico.
“The potential revenue for SANDAG is just crazy,” said San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno, who sits on the SANDAG board. “The potential revenue that this agency is going to have a hold of is going to be immense.”
One problem surfaced earlier this year, when the Federal Highway Administration told SANDAG that, by law, toll money collected on federal highways cannot be shared with Mexico; leading SANDAG to announce a last-minute change in plans.
“The primary toll readers, instead of being on State Route 11, we're moving them to the Mexican side of the border. The actual toll transaction, which is electronic, will be happening in SANDAG tolling center,” said SANDAG’s senior legal counsel, Betsy Blake, during the May meeting.
Blake said SANDAG plans to install a secondary, redundant toll reader on the U.S. side of the border in case the Mexican toll readers break down.
“Everything will be under the control of this body, of this agency, in the Back-Office where the actual financial transactions will occur,” said Orso.
CBS 8 reached out to the office of U.S. Congressman Juan Vargas (D-National City) regarding the delays in completing Otay Mesa East. His office emailed CBS 8 the following statement:
“This port of entry will help reduce wait times for the workers, students, and families trying to cross and make sure the cross-border commerce that is the economic engine of our region moves efficiently. Our Congressional delegation has brought home significant funding to move construction along and worked to support this project every step of the way. We need to get this done.”
SANDAG said border wait times could be cut to 20 minutes at the new crossing. The agency said toll costs will fluctuate depending on traffic from an estimated $4 per vehicle, to as high as $30 per vehicle during busy times.
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