Quicker crossing possible at San Luis port

Pedestrians will be able to make quicker border crossings at the U.S. Port of Entry at San Luis, Ariz., as soon as January, under a new inspection program that makes use of radio-frequency cards to verify the crossers' identities.

But when the SENTRI program will be available at the port for motorists remains up in the air, depending on completion of the second port of entry in the Arizona border city that will handle commercial traffic, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The vehicle lane to be dedicated to drivers enrolled in SENTRI currently serves commercial tractor-trailers that travel between San Luis and San Luis Rio Colorado, Son., but the commercial traffic must be rerouted to the new port before motorists can use the SENTRI lane, CBP officials say.

And the opening of the commercial crossing has been delayed until sometime in 2010 by a construction lag of several months on the Mexican portion of the bilateral port project.

Enrique Orozco, who has overseen construction on the Mexican side as project director of International Industrial Park in San Luis Rio Colorado, said this week work is 85 percent completed on the Mexican side. He predicted Mexico will have its part of the port done by the end of this month.

Commercial traffic will be redirected to the newly completed port at an undetermined date following completion of construction, CBP officials said.

Once the rerouting does take place, CBP spokesman Brian Levin in Tucson said, the agency will immediately open the SENTRI vehicle lane at the current port.

A contractor will have to install the card-reading equipment and other technology needed to expedite the crossings, Levin said, but the lane should help to relieve congestion in the meantime.

"It'll be expedited in the fact that (SENTRI card holders) will be segregated from the general traffic."

In the SENTRI program, border crossers who pass background and fingerprints checks by CBP are issued radio-frequency ID cards that they slide through card readers set up in designated lanes. They are still subject to questioning by the port officers, CBP officials say, but the inspections are shortened once they've presented their cards.

SENTRI - or Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection - is already in place at nine other ports of entry, and CBP officials say SENTRI card holders can cross the border in as little as half the time it takes other pedestrians and drivers.

One vehicle lane and one pedestrian walkway will serve border crossers at San Luis.

Teresa Small, CBP supervisory officer at San Luis, said work on the walkway is due to be completed in time to launch the program for pedestrians in January

The U.S. portions of the commercial port were completed on schedule last summer, but Orozco blamed a delay in funding from the North American Development Bank for pushing back construction on the Mexican side, originally scheduled for completion in September.

Orozco said work has been completed on the Mexican side on two bridges that are needed to carry traffic over Federal Highway 2 on the way to and from the new port. Also completed, he said, is work on administration offices in four of the six sections that comprise the crossing.

The program is anxiously awaited by officials in San Luis, Ariz., and San Luis Rio Colorado who are hoping it will reduce long lines of vehicles that form in both cities as motorists wait to cross the border.

In the meantime, CBP is continuing to take applications from residents on both sides of border who want to be enrolled in the program.

"We want to invite anyone to apply, because the program will benefit them," said Small.

To begin the multi-stage process, applicants should go to the Web site www.sentri.gov to enroll in the program, after which they will undergo interviews by CBP officers at San Luis as well as background and fingerprint checks. Those who successfully complete the process will be issued cards. The cards, valid for five years, costs $122.25.

Small said CBP personnel are available to make public presentations about SENTRI. For more information, call her at 627-8854, Ext. 207.