The March 3, 2020 Business in the NM Borderplex Forum featured Paola Ávila, Vice President of International Business Affairs from the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. Her presentation was on the history of the Cross Border Xpress as well as on the possibilities that can occur in the New Mexico Borderplex.
Ms. Ávila’s presentation (click here for PDF version) traced the history of the privately funded project that brought together a pedestrian bridge that connects the San Diego airport to the Tijuana airport. This modernizing of travel allows for passengers to purchase tickets through their online database, park at the facility, and to cross the border through the facility speedily. The idea was worked on since the 1990s. Investors from both countries came together for the project.
Through various proposals, obstacles, and challenges the Cross-Border Facility was completed and then operational in 2016 making it a binational airport that is physically in the United States but serving the Tijuana International Airport in Mexico with a bridge connecting the two countries. Passengers can check in on the U.S. side of the border, walk the bridge across the border, clear Mexican customs and immigration, and fly out of the Tijuana airport. Passengers arriving at the Tijuana International Airport can walk across the bridge, clear U.S. customs, and exit on the U.S. side. It was reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune that during the first year a 1.3 million people were using the bridge with greater numbers reported thereafter.
The idea of bringing two countries together with the bridge sparks further creativity there and in the New Mexico Borderplex that includes Santa Teresa, New Mexico and San Jeronimo, Chihuahua. A new or an already existing manufacturing plant, airport, distribution center or other facility in the region could take advantage of higher efficiency regarding transportation, communication, and collaboration across the border.
