Traffic detour planned for northbound Calexico-West Port of Entry
CALEXICO — About 15,000 to 20,000 motorists crossing northbound each day into the United States from Mexico through the Calexico-West Port of Entry will experience a tra c detour beginning next month.
“Vehicles entering the United States from Mexico will have the option to turn left or right onto Second Street,” Virginia Mendoza of Imperial County Transportation Commission, told Imperial Valley Press this week. “However, access will be limited onto Cesar Chavez Boulevard to local tra c only, buses and recreational vehicles while the city of Calexico completes [the] Cesar Chavez Boulevard wid- ening project.”
Coordinating agencies have designed these improvements in response to in- creasing travel demand and queuing southbound through downtown Calexico and into Mexico. The project’s primary goals are to improve the flow of auto traffic, increase safety for all modes of travel, and continue access to retail storefronts and local businesses, according to ICTC.
Several agencies are working together to transition tra c to the expanded port, Mendoza said, including the city of Calexico, ICTC, Caltrans, and the Southern California Association of Governments.
ICTC on Thursday will host three open house sessions to provide information and to answer the questions of attendees in relation to the changes. The first session will be from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., the second at 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and the third from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Carmen Durazo Cultural Arts Center, located at 421 He ernan in Calexico. The sessions are free and open to the public. For more information about the sessions, call (760) 592-4494.
$370 million project
The existing pedestrian and vehicle inspection facility, built in 1974, cannot accommodate existing tra c loads and modern Department of Homeland Security security requirements, according to the U.S. General Services Administration.
GSA began reconfiguring and expanding the existing port to increase vehicle and pedestrian capacity and enhance security. The project involves the creation of new pedestrian and privately owned vehicle inspection facilities and expansion of the port on the site of the former commercial inspection facility, whose operations moved to Calexico-East in 1996.
Site and design work for the updated Calexico-West Port of Entry — the third busiest land port in California — began in fiscal year 2007 at a cost of $12.4 million and continued into fiscal year 2008 at an additional cost of $9.4 million. Construction of Phase 1 began in fiscal year 2015 and has cost about $98 million, according to the U.S. General Services Administration.
Phase 1 consists of five southbound privately owned vehicle lanes and a southbound bridge over the New River, 10 northbound POV inspections lanes with primary and secondary inspection canopies, booths and inspection equipment, a new head house, and additional work to accommodate those facilities. About 360 port staff parking spaces also are being added.
“The construction of the first stage of the expanded Calexico-West Downtown Port of Entry by the General Services Administration was completed in July 2018, switching all southbound traffic to the expanded facility via SR111 to Second Street,” Mendoza said.
Phase 1 was designed by Perkins+Will Inc., an architecture company, and has been overseen by Jacobs Technology Inc., a construction management company. The general contractor is Jacobs Technology.
Phase 2, which is estimated to cost about $248 million, will include additional site work, demolition of the existing port building, a new pedestrian processing facility, administrative offices, five southbound POV inspection lanes with canopies and booths, and six additional northbound POV inspection lanes. The date construction will begin for Phase 2 has yet to be determined, and funding has not yet been appropriated by the federal government.
Cesar Chavez Boulevard improvements
The city of Calexico Public Works Department earlier this year received a multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation — as part of Federal Project No. HPLUL-5168(017) — for road improvements to Cesar Chavez Boulevard and the Calexico-West Port of Entry between Highway 98 and Second Street. The federal government is providing $5.5 million, with a local matching grant of $522,219.
The project involves roadway improvements and street widening throughout to provide two through lanes in the northbound direction and three lanes in the southbound.
Earlier this month, the Calexico City Council awarded a $6,022,219 contract to Pyramid Construction and Aggregates Inc., of Heber, to construct the project.