Cross Border Xpress (CBX), historically also called the Tijuana Cross-border Terminal and the Puerta de las Californias, is an airport terminal and border crossing located in the Otay Mesa area of southern San Diego, California, United States, with an access bridge connecting it to the Tijuana International Airport in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. It opened on December 9, 2015. It makes Tijuana Airport a geographically binational airport.[5] Unlike the binational airports serving the Swiss cities of Basel (entirely on French territory) and Geneva (entirely on Swiss territory),[6][7] the CBX terminal is physically located in the United States but serves an airport whose main terminal and runways are in Mexico. A pedestrian bridge spans the United States–Mexico border and Via de la Juventud Oriente in Tijuana, connecting passenger terminals between the two countries.[8] It was the creation of Ralph Nieders, who introduced the concept and infrastructure design in Mexico City in 1989 and San Diego in 1990.[9][10] The structural scheme allows passengers originating in, and destined to the United States direct access to the Tijuana airport and equally gives Mexican and international carriers operating from the Tijuana airport direct access to the U.S. passenger market.
The terminal, in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, allows passengers to check in on the U.S. side of the U.S.–Mexico border, cross a 120-meter (390ft) pedestrian/passenger bridge across the border, clear Mexican immigration and customs, and board flights at the Tijuana International Airport. Passengers arriving in Tijuana are equally able to cross the pedestrian/passenger bridge into the Otay Mesa passenger terminal, clear U.S. passport controls and U.S. Customs, and exit on the U.S. side.[11][12]
Ownership
CBX is operated by Otay-Tijuana Venture L.L.C., a US-Mexican group of companies with investors that include PAP Corp, PALAREO Inc., EGI-OTAY Investors with financing from Invex and Bancomext.[13]
Facilities and operation
View of CBX bridge from parking lot on U.S. side, with Tijuana Airport on the left and the CBX U.S. terminal on the right
CBX consists of:
Bridge: a 120-meter (390ft) pedestrian bridge from Mexico to the U.S. The fee to use the bridge is $16 one-way or $30 round-trip. Flight crew that want to use the facility must hold a boarding pass and pay the fee alike. The pedestrian bridge is for the exclusive use of passengers with boarding passes flying into or out of TIJ. Departing passengers may use the facility up to 24 hours prior to the flight's departure time. Arriving passengers are required to cross the bridge into the U.S. within two hours of disembarking the flight.[14]
Facilities on the U.S. side: Ticket counters and kiosks for the bridge, airline check-in kiosks, and entrance to/exit from the bridge. U.S. customs and immigration inspection facilities, car rental and bus agencies, a snack bar, and a duty-free shop. It is only as a check-in and processing facility for departing and arriving passengers. It has its own parking, check-in stations, and customs offices, but no gates or arrival facilities (thus functionally resembling Hong Kong International Airport's Terminal 2). There are almost 900 public parking spaces, and areas for passenger pick-up, taxis, and intercity and local buses.[1]
Facilities on the Mexican side: Mexican immigration and customs. Access to CBX from Mexico is from the baggage claim area, where there are counters to purchase CBX tickets.
Within seven months of the facility's opening, 600,000 passengers had used the facility, with a single day record of 5,800 passengers.
History
For the complete history of the plans and negotiations of the cross-border terminal at Tijuana Airport, see History of the Cross Border Xpress.
Image 1: Plans for a cross-border terminal date back to 1989. Here, one from Mexicana de Aviación and Ralph Nieders, 1990
The first discussion of a cross-border terminal was part of a proposal initiated by Mexico's Minister of Public Works (Secretario de Obras Publicas) Gilberto Valenzuela Ezquerro who under Mexico's President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1964–1970) was directed to modernize Mexico's airports and transportation system. In 1965, Gilberto Valenzuela approached then Mayor of San Diego Frank Curran with a proposal to jointly develop a Tijuana-San Diego airport on Otay Mesa, but at the time, San Diego considered Otay Mesa too remote. Gilberto Valenzuela Ezquerro then initiated the development of the Tijuana airport which was expanded from 128 hectares (316 acres) to 448 hectares (1107 acres) to accommodate a new terminal and runway.
From 1965 until 1987, the concept of a cross-border terminal lay dormant until Dennis ConnerAmerica's Cup victory in Australia. Freddie Laker, who had pioneered low-fare commercial transatlantic routes and was the founder of Laker Airways, became interested in developing international commercial/charter flights through Mexico to service the projected passenger traffic for the America's Cup challenge in San Diego. He met with Rodolfo Ramos Ortiz, who had introduced charter operations in Mexico in the 1970s and founded Aerounión and Aerocharter de México, S.A. de C.V. Negotiations failed but the concept of a cross-border terminal continued to evolve.
In 1989, Ralph Nieders, who had been involved in the Freddie Laker discussions, made a formal proposal to Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V. in Mexico City. The proposal was accepted and a letter of intent drawn in 1990 for the acquisition of Martinez Ranch (parcel number APN 667-050-07) as the designated site for the cross-border terminal. The Mexicana de Aviación/Nieders image 1 shown in this section became the first of a series of plans/diagrams that were created to better promote the project. Contact was then made with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) whose plans for a "bi-national airport" had been undermined in November 1989, when the San Diego City Council lifted a building moratorium on Otay Mesa.[15] SANDAG did not support the development of a cross-border terminal as it sought to again revive its efforts to create a bi-national airport on San Diego's Otay Mesa and Mexicana de Aviación opted not to pursue the project in January, 1991. As Mexicana de Aviación withdrew, in February 1991, Rodolfo Ramos Ortiz/Aerocharter de México looking at the Tijuana airport's potential for passenger and cargo operations to Japan and other Pacific destinations joined Ralph Nieders to continue promoting the cross-border terminal. As shown by image 2, an updated rendering was then created showing a fully developed Tijuana airport and how its cargo and passengers would directly connect to San Diego's surface streets and freeway system.
In 1993, San Diego's efforts to develop a regional bi-national airport failed[16] and a recession during that same period also caused the collapse of land values in Otay Mesa. The selected site for the Aerocharter cross-border terminal on the U.S. side was foreclosed. Efforts to build the cross-border terminal were then suspended.
In 1994, Mexico initiated its airport privatization program and the cross-border terminal was refloated by Gilberto Valenzuela Ezquerro and Ralph Nieders. The Tijuana airport became part of the Pacific Airport Group, known as GAP (Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico) consisting of 12 airports with 15 Million Annual Passengers and headquartered in Guadalajara. In 1999, a Spanish consortium won the concession and committed to developing the cross-border terminal but in August 2001, in an effort to reduce operating costs, canceled the project and Ralph Nieders resigned as GAP's cross-border project manager. The Tijuana cross-border terminal project then reverted to Mexico's airport authority Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (ASA) and was privately promoted by Gilberto Valenzuela and Ralph Nieders.[17]
In 2006, Controladora Mexicana de Aeropuertos S.A. de C.V.[18] headed by Eduardo Sanchez-Navarro Redo, Carlos Laviada Ocejo and his wife Laura Diez-Barroso Azcarraga replaced Holdinmex S.A. de C.V. as the Mexican strategic partner within AMP (Aeropuertos Mexicanos del Pacifico, S.A. de C.V.) and assumed control of the Pacific Airport Group (GAP). Gilberto Valenzuela Ezquerro contacted Eduardo Sanchez-Navarro Redo and arrangements were made for Christian Checa Levien, son-in-law of Laura Diez-Barroso Azcarraga de Laviada, to meet with Ralph Nieders to discuss the development of a cross-border terminal and land options. A private tour and meeting at the San Diego International Airport was then arranged between Christian Checa and Ralph Nieders by Theodore Sexton of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority. The three potential crossing sites Martinez Ranch, Britannia Commerce Center and Martinez Trust were discussed. The cross-border terminal then became part of the strategic development of the Tijuana airport. Land negotiations on Martinez Trust as well as Britannia Commerce Center failed. Samuel Zell of Equity International then became interested and his representative David Contis met with Christian Checa and Ralph Nieders. Land negotiations on Martinez Trust then followed and in 2007 negotiations on parcel APN 667-060-02 (Martinez Trust) were successfully completed. Otay-Tijuana Venture LLC was then created to develop and operate the Tijuana cross-border terminal.
After a quarter century of negotiations and planning for a cross-border terminal, construction began at the Tijuana airport in October 2013[19] and work on the U.S. side began in June 2014.[20] The cross-border terminal was completed in December 2015.[1] The project had an initial estimated cost of $78 million US dollars and a final completion cost of $120 million US dollars, funded by Mexican and U.S. private investors and Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico.[11][12] Building E of Tijuana's Terminal 1 was retrofitted to support the new bridge structure on the Mexican side. During the construction phase, a temporary border waiver between the U.S. and Mexico had to be issued by mutual legislation to allow U.S. construction cranes and U.S. fabricated steel bridge structural sections to cross the U.S.-Mexico boundary and be set over the six-lane Mexican Federal Highway 2.[21]
The main contractor for the terminal was Turner Construction Company. The civil engineer was Latitude 33 Planning and Engineering. Structural engineers were Hope Amundson Structural Engineers and Kleinfelder. The electrical subcontractor was Bergelectric. The mechanical and plumbing subcontractor was Industrial Commercial Systems. The site work and management subcontractor was Hazard Construction Company.[22]Stantec Incorporated based in Alberta, Canada, was selected as the prime architect and facility designer with the late Ricardo Legorreta of Legorreta+Legorreta as the associate architect.
The Tijuana cross-border terminal was renamed the Cross Border Xpress (CBX) and opened to passenger service on December 9, 2015.[1][23] However, the official opening ceremony did not take place until April 7, 2016.[24]
For its design and innovation in the category of Airport and Ports, in April 2016 Engineering News-Report (ENR) gave the Otay-Tijuana Cross Border Xpress (CBX) its Global Award For Merit.[25] and in September 2016, awarded CBX the Airports/Transit Best Project in California.[26]
In 2020, an additional restroom facility was added to the building and the duty-free area underwent a renovation completed by Delawie Architects and Turner Construction Company.[27]
Tijuana is the largest city in the state of Baja California located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality and the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area. It has a close proximity to the Mexico–United States border, which is part of the San Diego-Tijuana metro area.
Tijuana International Airport ; officially Aeropuerto Internacional General Abelardo L. Rodríguez(General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport), is an international airport located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northeast of Downtown Tijuana. It serves Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, and the Metropolitan Area of San Diego-Tijuana, home to a population of five million inhabitants. The airport serves an extensive network of 42 domestic destinations including most of the major and secondary cities across Mexico. It is a hub for Volaris and a focus city for Viva Aerobus. Additionally, the airport houses facilities for the Mexican Air Force and supports cargo flights, tourism, flight training, and general aviation activities. Operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, the airport is named after General Abelardo L. Rodríguez, President of Mexico from 1932 to 1934. It is Mexico's westernmost airport and second-northernmost airport after Mexicali International Airport.
San Ysidro is a district of the City of San Diego, immediately north of the Mexico–United States border. It neighbors Otay Mesa West to the north, Otay Mesa to the east, and Nestor and the Tijuana River Valley to the west; together these communities form South San Diego, a practical exclave of the City of San Diego. Major thoroughfares include Beyer Boulevard and San Ysidro Boulevard.
Brown Field Municipal Airport is in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States, 13 miles (21 km) southeast of Downtown San Diego and named in honor of Commander Melville S. Brown, USN, who was killed in an airplane crash in 1936. Its main runway is 7,972 feet (2,430 m) long. Its FAA/IATA airport code is SDM. Formerly Naval Auxiliary Air Station Brown Field, it is now a civilian reliever airport and a port of entry from Mexico. It is sometimes staffed by the U.S. Customs Service, but only upon request of incoming pilots to the Federal Aviation Administration. The development plans for the SDM airport have been announced on 4th Oct 2022, the development will occur in phases over 20 years. The plans include a new FBO terminal building and individual airplane hangars. There is also talk of adding a million square feet of retail and industrial buildings and possibly a hotel.
Nuevo Laredo International Airport ; officially Aeropuerto Internacional Quetzalcóatl(Quetzalcóatl International Airport) is an international airport located in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, near the U.S.-Mexico border. It serves domestic flights within Mexico for the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo binational metropolitan area, the northern Tamaulipas and Nuevo León region and Southern Texas. It also supports various cargo operations, as well as executive and general aviation activities.
CBX may refer to:
The South Bay, also known as South County, is a region in southwestern San Diego County, California consisting of the cities and unincorporated communities of Bonita, Chula Vista, East Otay Mesa, Imperial Beach, Lincoln Acres, National City, and South San Diego.
Otay Mesa is a community in the southern exclave of the city of San Diego, just north of the U.S.–Mexico border.
The following is a list of transportation options in San Diego County, California.
San Diego–Tijuana is an international transborder agglomeration, straddling the border of the adjacent North American coastal cities of San Diego, California, United States, and Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The 2020 population of the region was 5,456,577, making it the largest bi-national conurbation shared between the United States and Mexico, and the second-largest shared between the US and another country. The conurbation consists of the San Diego metropolitan area, in the United States and the municipalities of Tijuana, Rosarito Beach (126,980), and Tecate (108,440) in Mexico. It is the third most populous region in the California–Baja California region, smaller only than the metropolitan areas of Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
South San Diego is a district within the City of San Diego, and is in the larger South Bay region of southwestern San Diego County, California. South San Diego is a practical exclave of San Diego, having no land connection with the rest of the city. It is the only part of the city which borders Mexico. South San Diego includes four of the city's official community planning areas: Otay Mesa, Otay Mesa-Nestor, San Ysidro, and the Tijuana River Valley.
Transportation in San Diego consists of a variety of air, road, sea, and public transportation options.
The San Ysidro Port of Entry is the largest land border crossing between San Ysidro and Tijuana, and the fourth-busiest land border crossing in the world with 70,000 northbound vehicles and 20,000 northbound pedestrians crossing each day, in addition to southbound traffic. It connects Mexican Federal Highway 1 on the Mexican side with Interstate 5 on the American side. The San Ysidro Port of Entry is one of three ports of entry in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region.
Otay Centenario is a borough of the municipality of Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico. It is the result of a merger between the former boroughs of Mesa de Otay and Centenario which took place on January 1, 2014.
The Otay Mesa Port of Entry is one of three ports of entry (POE) in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region, in the U.S. state of California, connecting Otay Mesa in the City of San Diego with the Otay Centenario borough of Tijuana. The facility was opened in 1983, and was constructed primarily to divert growing commercial truck traffic from the busy San Ysidro Port of Entry, located 5.2 miles (8.4 km) west. Since then, significant passenger vehicle and pedestrian traffic has grown as development in the area around the crossing has grown. Commercial importations through Otay Mesa accounts for billions of dollars' worth of freight.
The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry is a planned border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, approximately 2 miles east of the existing Otay Mesa Port of Entry. The crossing will connect the Otay Centenario borough of Tijuana with East Otay Mesa in unincorporated San Diego County, an as-yet undeveloped area slotted for future development including a business park. Although the crossing will allow cars and pedestrians, it is mainly designed for trucks and commercial vehicles.
East Otay Mesa is an as-yet undeveloped area in the South Bay region of unincorporated San Diego County, southern California.
The 2015 opening of the Cross Border Xpress terminal and bridge to the Tijuana Airport, also referred to as the Tijuana Cross-border Terminal and the Puerta de las Californias, was preceded by a quarter century of negotiations that were impacted by political, economic and security issues.
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