JWC 2008-2010 Work Plan

The following work plan for 2008-2010 includes a short description for each item. All projects are contingent on availability of funds.

Work Plan Items are as follows:

1. JWC Strategic Plan Monitoring Framework
   The development of a simple framework for a strategic planning and management system that will be used to align work plan activities to the vision and strategy of the JWC in order to monitor organization performance against strategic goals.
2. Border Travel Time studies (as base-line information)
   Commercial vehicles are often delayed at border crossings. Trip delays increase transportation costs, and impact national security and the environment. There are efforts underway by several agencies to improve processes (inspection, queuing, just-in-time delivery) as well as programs to fund and improve infrastructure at ports of entry to reduce delays and increase security. The objective of these studies is to provide a baseline of border crossing delay by measuring border crossing times for commercial trucks at the Pharr-Reynosa border crossing as well as other border crossings. These baseline data will then be used to help measure the success of improvement projects and strategies.
3. Safety Initiatives
   1. Road Safety Audit (RSA) Training with the following primary objectives:
      1. Provide conclusions and recommendations on how road safety can be improved in the POE/international border crossing environment, which can then be considered and implemented by the host organizations.
      2. Include participation of Mexican state and federal representatives. After learning RSA techniques, the Mexican participants can implement RSAs on a wider basis throughout Mexico. The BTEP/CETRATET Centers are ideally suited for this purpose.
      3. Use training as a template for similar studies at other POEs/international border crossings.
   2. UNAM safety initiatives using GIS
   3. Safety Signage Pilot for Southern Border
4. Bottlenecks Study Phase II+
   Using the methodology developed in the earlier JWC bottleneck studies, additional bottleneck studies would be completed along the Nogales/ Nogales & Texas/Mexico border. This project could be carried out in a 2-year timeframe .Bottleneck methodology & pilot studies available upon request.
5. Traffic Studies and Travel Demand Modeling Peer Exchange
   In an effort to provide accurate short, medium and long term traffic projections for cross border travel, select traffic studies are being conducted that will provide information to populate travel demand models. In addition, existing cross-border and Port of Entry travel demand forecast modeling techniques will be discussed and evaluated to reach understanding and enhance knowledge of existing systems and to produce solutions for improved cross-border modeling.
6. Innovative Finance
   Identify border projects in which specific technical assistance in structuring the finances would advance the project.
7. Regional Border Master Plans
   The JWC proposes to create a compendium of border-wide regional master plans with a comprehensive and prioritized assessment of transportation needs along the border including at the Ports of Entry beginning with a pilot project for the San Diego/ Tijuana area. The Master Plan provides the next logical step in a comprehensive, binational transportation planning process. The Border Master Plan will go beyond BINS II to gather land use, environment, population and socio-economic data. This data will be used to adequately evaluate growth and future capacity needs at the border and to more realistically forecast future conditions in the border region. Additionally, this data can be utilized to evaluate the existing binational transportation and POE system, its current and future demand, and the infrastructure necessary to handle the expected growth. The Master Plan would help foster consistency amongst the individual agency planning processes, which creates a documentation that feeds back into the periodic updates of plan. The Master Plan must consider short-term, mid-term and long-term needs. The comprehensive list and prioritized assessment of the transportation and POE needs will support international trade as well as improve cross-border travel and the quality of life for the residents and visitors of each region. Therefore, the Border Master Plan should be incorporated as a component of federal, state and local strategic plans. Additionally, the outcome of the Master Plan process must be accepted and embraced by stakeholders throughout the border region. Stakeholders should make the Master Plan part of their overall planning and forecasting process. The master plan would be regularly updated (every 3-5 years) with new data, policy issues, economic and infrastructure changes as planned by the stakeholders.
8. Evaluating Transportation Planning Processes
   Texas proposes to complete a study "Evaluating Mexican Transportation Planning Processes and Implications for Texas Transportation Assets."
9. Value Engineering
   Provide information to Mexico on Value Engineering working towards the possibility of providing training in this area (BTEP/CETRATET activity).