WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has promised a $150 million federal grant to construct a new road and port of entry facility for the San Diego-Baja California border region (Otay Mesa).
According to a USDOT statement issued April 15 regarding the agreement, the investment will provide state-of-the-art inspection facilities for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and enhance border security.
In addition, the agreement removed Green New Deal requirements, including a zero-emission vehicle charging provision — a requirement the USDOT describes as “a waste of taxpayer funds and irrelevant to CBP’s national security mission.” The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry project was first awarded a grant from the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects (INFRA) program in September 2022.
“Thanks to the prior administration’s lack of focus, this critical project sat in limbo for two years. No more. We moved to finalize this deal so we can help protect our Southern border and crack down on drug trafficking while preventing tax dollars subsidizing pointless Green New Deal priorities,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “This department will continue to clear the previous administration’s unprecedented grants backlog and deliver results.”
The USDOT statement also noted: “The Trump Administration inherited more than 3,200 unobligated grants that had been promoted by the previous administration but never fulfilled. This unprecedented backlog of unobligated grants delayed critical investments in communities across the country. Under Secretary Duffy’s leadership, the department is working diligently to accelerate the distribution of these long-overdue funds and address core infrastructure projects.”
About the Otay Mesa Project
The new port of entry will provide an alternative for nearly 3,600 trucks that cross the existing Otay Mesa and Tecate Ports of Entry daily, which are operating at capacity. This will improve the movement of freight and reduce congestion at other ports of entry.
The Otay Mesa project will construct a new 21st century border crossing east of the existing Otay Mesa Port of Entry. This will enhance border security with state-of-the-art inspection equipment for CBP and a commercial vehicle enforcement facility. In addition, the project will deploy intelligent transportation technologies to manage traffic demand through dynamic tolling, increase inspection efficiency and bolster cross border trade.
The project facilitates freight moving across borders to destinations at nearby distribution centers and warehouses in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the Inland Empire’s mega-distribution centers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Linda Garner-Bunch has been in publishing for more than 30 years. You name it, Linda has written about it. She has served as an editor for a group of national do-it-yourself publications and has coordinated the real estate section of Arkansas’ only statewide newspaper, in addition to working on a variety of niche publications ranging from bridal magazines to high-school sports previews and everything in between. She is also an experienced photographer and copy editor who enjoys telling the stories of the “Knights of the Highway,” as she calls our nation’s truck drivers.
