JWC Meeting Minutes

San Antonio, Texas
March 1-3, 2004

For this meeting the delegations were as follows:

U.S. Delegation
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) - Cindy Burbank, Jill Hochman, Roger Petzold, Sylvia Grijalva, Dan Reagan, Lisa Dye, Mitch Batuzich, Fred Werner, Jim Hatter, Henry Nevares, Ed Rodriguez, Richard Backlund, Don Martinez, Crystal Jones, Maurice Light
US Department of State - Dennis Linksey (Washington), Fred Schellenberg (U.S. Embassy, Mexico)
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - Manny Rodriguez
General Services Administration (GSA) - Larry Warner
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) - Amadeo Saenz, Gus de la Rosa, Esther Hitzfelder, Mario Jorge, Luis Ramirez
New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Dept (NMDOT) - Rebecca Montoya, Adrian Apodaca
New Mexico Border Authority - Jaime Campos, Jim Creek
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) - Pedro Orso-Delgado, Sergio Pallares
Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) - Dale Buskirk, Rudy Perez

Mexican Delegation
Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) - José San Martin, Juan José Erazo, Oscar Ringenbach, Miguel Angel Gutiérrez
Caminos y Puentes Federales (CAPUFE) - Octavio Vial
Comisión de Avaluos y Bienes Nacionales (CABIN) - Laura Selene Millan
Instituto Nacional de Migración (INAMI) - Arturo San Miguel, Roberto Miramonte, Karen Mujica
Gobierno del Estado de Baja California - Rafael Elorduy
Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León - Oscar Sosa Saavedra
Gobierno del Estado de Tamaulipas - Ernesto Morris
Gobierno del Estado de Coahuila - Agapito Cruz

Consultants
Presenting:
Sourcepoint - Marney Cox, Elisa Arias
Law Offices of William T. Avila, P.C. - Bill Avila
Regal - Cher Gibson
New Mexico State University - Bob Czerniak, Matt Rich, Antonio Jose Carranza
NADBank - Jorge Garces

In Attendance:
Suma Sinergia - Juan Carlos Espinoza
Baker Engineering (U.S. VISIT) - David McFayden
Guild Communication (U.S. VISIT) - Steve Wolf

Welcome and Introductions
Jose San Martin and Cindy Burbank

Approval of minutes from Mexico City, July 2003 meeting

SAFETEA Reauthorization
Jill Hochman - FHWA
The latest extension of the operating authorization will extend from March 1 until the end of April. For the six-year reauthorization of the transportation act, there are three proposals: the Safe Accountable Flexible Transportation Equity Act for the Next Century (SAFETEA)-FHWA version of $256B, the SAFETEA-Senate version of $318B and the Transportation Equity Act a Legacy for Users (TEA-LU) - House version of $375. At the present time, all bills have the corridor and border grant program broken out into two separate programs, a multi-state planning piece and a border planning piece with some limited construction funding. The agency version includes these as discretionary programs, while the House and Senate are proposing that funds be distributed based on formula using a variety of data including BTS data on commercial motor vehicle traffic. The agency version includes spending in Mexico and Canada, while the Senate and House versions disallow this. The agency version includes transfer of funding to GSA.

JWC Planning Seminar
Jose San Martin - SCT
Based on the recommendation from the last meeting that the JWC should organize a seminar/conference in honor of the 10th anniversary of the JWC, the SCT has developed a proposed agenda. This seminar will be held in the upcoming year and will focus on the exchange of ideas, information, dissemination of program information to date, and on developing a new platform to improve the efficiency of technology transfer in the future. The four main topics are security, efficiency, integration and investment opportunities.

Discussion: Fred Werner suggested that an innovative finance workshop could be held before or after this seminar depending on attendees and interest. Henry Nevares indicated that the border technology partners should be invited to attend. Expected number of attendees is approximately 300. Sergio Pallares requested that a subcommittee be developed to provide input on the agenda. Develop a subcommittee to help with agenda items to the binational Planning Seminar.

POE Harmonization Procedure
Dennis Linskey - Department of State
The two governments are interested in streamlining the POE planning process. The governor of New Mexico formally proposed a working group to deal with how requests are handled. The current system is convoluted: one government proposes and develops for 5-6 years then other government takes it up, the U.S. process is bottom up (local to state to fed) and the Mexican process is more federally motivated, funding in the U.S. comes from local community and states, where Mexican funding has traditionally been federal. Agencies need to get involved more concurrently in the process, including the state and municipal planning organizations. Through the Binational Bridges and Border Crossings Group(BBBXG), a small planning subcommittee will be formed to identify differences in approval process and work to reduce 5-6 year timeline to a 1-2 year time line.

Discussion: SCT has developed an organizational chart with SRE showing who is involved in the process. Jose San Martin indicated that the finance process in Mexico is changing from a federal only process to a concession process. Pedro Orso-Delgado and Sylvia Grijalva suggested that as part of the harmonization process that DOT roadway connections should also be considered. SCT is working on a study with Juan Carlos Espinoza on these gateway connections and this work could be useful for the subcommittee.

The JWC approved a motion to support DOS and SRE's efforts on Harmonization of procedures and streamlining the processes including financial synchronization. SCT will provide any relevant information or body of work to DOS and SRE.

Augment existing BBBXG subcommittee that looks at recommending procedures for different types of projects where coordination needs to occur (budgetary or for other reasons)

U.S. Visit
Manny Rodriguez - DHS
This high priority program for DHS will be funded $300M in 03, $332M in 04 and $500M in 05 with a total program cost of $11B. The program will be rolled out in 4 phases. The first phase, entry system in place at air and seaports, was completed 1/2004. Phase 2 will consist of including biometrics in passports for visa waiver countries (10/2004) and implementation of an entry system at 50 largest land border ports (12/2004) (14 southern border ports). Phase 3 will consist of implementation of the entry system at the remaining 115 land border ports (28 southern border ports). The prime integrator of the entire system, expected to be selected by May 2004, will complete the rest of the implementation (full entry and exit). The airport and seaport phase was completed successfully. Initial enrollment, fingerprints and photographs was taking about 9-12 seconds. DHS is conducting field surveys, legal boundary studies, feasibility studies, establishing coordination with State DOTs (on the U.S. side), etc. The expected technology for entry will be radio frequency (RF) readers and cards.

Discussion: Question was raised about the laser-visa (or border crossing card) being sufficient for entry/exit. The current recommendation is yes. SENTRI and U.S.-VISIT will be coordinated, however, the U.S. VISIT system is person-centric, the identification will go with the person as opposed to the vehicle like SENTRI. SCT expressed interest in being part of the binational technical advisory committee, and will be willing to exchange statistical data with DHS as required. FHWA also expressed interest in being part of the binational technical advisory committee. DHS is working on developing regular briefings on U.S. VISIT and welcomes all inquiries through its outreach office.

Mexican Border Wizard
Oscar Ringenbach - SCT
SCT has been selected as the lead agency to develop the Mexican Border Wizard, which has been renamed SimFronteras. The first phase, collecting data at Mesa de Otay and Colombia-Laredo, was completed in February 2004. A preliminary tool was delivered to SCT and will be reviewed to provide input prior to proceeding with data collection at other ports of entry. The second phase, data collection at four ports of entry - Cordoba- Las Americas, Nuevo Laredo III, Reynosa-Hidalgo and Reynosa-Pharr, will occur in approximately three months, with. The third phase will involve data collection at the remaining 15 ports of entry --Nogales/Mariposa, Piedras Negras II/Eagle Pass II, Suchiate II/Cd. Hidalgo (Mexico's southern border), Mexicali II/Calexico West, Matamoros/Los Tomates, Mexicali I/Calexico, Zaragoza/Ysleta, Nuevo Laredo I/Laredo I Nuevo, Laredo II/Laredo II, Nuevo Laredo III/Laredo IV, Ciudad Acuña/Del Rio, Jeronimo/Santa Teresa, Nogales Camargo/Rio Grande City, Matamoros/Brownsville (B & M).

The ultimate distribution of the model will involve training on SimFronteras and distribution of computers. SCT is coordinating with the T2 centers and intends to use this tool for planning studies such as the Bottleneck Study, the Coordinated Port Study, ITS, SENTRI/FAST, general regional planning, binational corridor planning, and integration of databases.

Cher Gibson - Regal
Regal has developed user documents that describe commercial processes and sub-processes. They are writing new documentation and programming in Spanish. By mid-May 2004 the first beta test of the model will be complete, then it will be distributed for input from the Mexican agencies. SimFronteras will be able to interface with BorderWizard and with a future Canadian version of the software.

SENTRI Lanes
Fred Schellenberg - U.S. Embassy, Mexico City
Miguel Angel Gutierrez - SCT
The funding has been appropriated for this project ($1M), and a consultant has been selected to work to develop biddable packages for six sites: Tijuana-San Ysidro, Mexicali-Calexico, Nogales, Cd. Juarez, Laredo and Matamoros.

Discussion: FHWA asked for copies of progress reports on this project. Fred Schellenberg agreed to distribute them.

Border Technology Exchange Program (BTEP)
Henry Nevares - FWHA
A new strategic plan for the BTEP was established through a series of meetings with the program partners - two in October 2003 (Mexicali and Monterrey) and a final meeting in November 2003 in El Paso. Centers have been established in all six Mexican Border States (although some are still waiting initial funding). The Baja California/California, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, New Mexico and Texas partners all gave briefings on their involvement with the program. SCT expressed continued interest to work with the T2 centers

Identification and Elimination of Bottlenecks
Miguel Angel Gutierrez - SCT
Lisa Dye - FHWA
This item is one of the 22-point Border Action Plan items, and a subcommittee of the Binational Bridges and Border Crossings Group (BBBXG), headed by the two speakers, is reviewing existing tools for identification and elimination of bottlenecks. A proposal for development of a pilot project using the most useful tools identified will be presented at the upcoming BBBXG meeting. JWC members who are not presently involved are invited to participate in this subcommittee as they are technical experts and can provide a lot of valuable input. JWC will convene a group with DHS, FMCSA, DOS and FHWA to discuss and encourage participation and high-level support in this activity.

Eisenhower Scholarship
Sylvia Grijalva - FHWA
FHWA is looking for a student to apply for this grant program to be trained in GIS and to work on the Border GIS (BGIS) project. The length of the program is from 6-18 months and includes a stipend ($1450/month for undergraduates, $1700/month for Masters' degree candidates and $2000/month for Ph. D. candidates). Eligible students are those that are within their Junior or Senior year of undergraduate school or are in a Masters', Ph.D. or equivalent degree program. FHWA is requesting that the SCT and Bob Czerniak of NMSU coordinate to find a suitable candidate.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Border Architecture
Crystal Jones - FHWA
FHWA has started an initiative with members of the US-Canada Transportation Working Group to begin developing a border information flow architecture. The initiative focuses on the following:

-Identify technologies and agencies that use technologies at or near the border;
-Identify priorities of these various agencies
-Promote interoperability of technologies
-Reduce technology investment cost
-Enhance information exchange, coordination and communication

This initiative supports action Item 20 of the US- Canada Smart Border Accord "Intelligent Transportation Systems," requires the US & Canada to deploy interoperable technologies in support of initiatives to facilitate the secure movement of goods and people

This effort will provide a framework for ensuring institutional agreement and technical integration for the implementation of ITS projects or other technology solutions at major land border crossings. Also it will engage border stakeholders to identify opportunities for coordination and information sharing to improve security and efficiency at ports of entry. Border Information Flow Architecture facilitates a coordinated approach that would increase value through reduced costs of deployment, and access to higher-order benefits. A committee developed within the TBWG for the development of a border information architecture (focuses on ITS). The TBWG will follow a methodology based on US/Canada Intelligent Transportation System- Regional Architecture

The question to the JWC is whether a similar initiative would be beneficial to US/Mexico. IS so is the JWC the proper forum for this effort. JWC US/Mexico representatives interested in the initiative invited to participate in work as a friend to the committee.

Jose San Martin of SCT stated that Mexico is working with the Trade and Development Agency to establish an infrastructure. The study will be done at the end of 2004, and will discuss how to implement the infrastructure and what needs to be done so that it is compatible with U.S. architecture.

The JWC will put together a subcommittee to discuss an ITS Border architecture for the US- Mexico Border to determine if the JWC will consider getting involved in this effort. The proposed subcommittee members are Adrian Apodaca, Don Martinez, Sylvia Grijalva, Lisa Dye, Crystal Jones, Juan Jose Erazo, Oscar Ringenbach, Venacio Perez, Oscar Cruz and Mike Noonchester of the PSL at New Mexico State University.

Binational Safety Conscious Planning
Roger Petzold -FHWA
Safety Conscious Planning is a comprehensive, system-wide, multi-modal, proactive process that better integrates safety into surface transportation decision-making. The basic concept is to integrate safety concerns into the planning of all infrastructure projects. The JWC committed, at the JWC meeting in July 2003, to host a Safety Conscious Planning conference. This conference is being developed with the preliminary concept being a "PROVIAL" that focuses on safety, educates on various safety issues and develops an action plan. The conference will be held three months after the next JWC meeting (tentative date December 2004).

Work Plan 2001-2003 and 2003-2005

Border Infrastructure Needs Assessment (BINS)
Marney Cox, Elisa Arias- Sourcepoint
The results of the study were presented, and copies of the Executive Summary, Final Report and Appendices were distributed. Due to the fact that the report collected and discussed corridors and their unfunded needs, concern was raised over the impression that this study was being used as a tool to lobby the U.S. congress for funds. More time was requested for review of the report with an eye to that specific concern.

JWC will have 30 days (April 2) to review the executive summary report, final report and appendices. At that time, Sylvia Grijalva will circulate a ballot via electronic mail with the following options:

1) Accept as a tool for future planning purposes and evaluation.
2) Accept as a tool for future planning purposes and evaluation with word changes
3) Accept as a tool for future planning purposes and evaluation and distribute.
4) Disapprove
5) Recuse your agency

Furthermore, The JWC will put together a subcommittee to discuss the viability of a BINSII type of study. If BINS II is agreed upon the subcommittee will develop a proposed scope of work. The proposed subcommittee members are Amadeo Saenz, Dale Buskirk, Jill Hochman, Pedro Orso-Delgado, Sergio Pallares, Oscar Ringenbach, and Rafael Elorduy. This subcommittee will discuss among other things, how would future information be collected and updated/monitored.

Binational Geographic Information System (BGIS) II
Bob Czerniak, Matthew Rich, and Antonio Carranza - New Mexico State University (NMSU)
The GIS consists of two components, spatial layers and a data table of modal data identifiers on roads, airports and POEs received from the BINS project and other sources. The data is completely bilingual for ease of use in both countries and will be Internet based. The GIS can be used for POE development, port planning, future land use planning and as a link to the BINS project. The GIS is not limited to just transportation data, but can also include environmental features, socio-economic factors and other data elements. NMSU has developed a straw man GIS for the NM-Chihuahua binational corridor (I-25/I-10/MX-45) and will expand development to the other 4 north-south corridors identified by the GIS subcommittee (I-5/MX-1, I-19/MX-15, I-35/MX-85, and I-69/MX-10). The straw man concept for the binational corridor presented to the JWC was agreed upon by the JWC to be applied to the other 4 targeted corridors. JWC agrees that the straw man information as presented today can be distributed to outside entities.

Another key component of the GIS is training. The JWC agrees that the proposed training course format developed by a technical committee of SCT/IMT/NMSU/FHWA for technicians and decision makers is acceptable.

Discussion: The JWC resolved that the scope of work for GIS II will contain a work element depicting maintenance and further development of the GIS system.

Innovative Financing
Bill Avila - Law Offices of William T. Avila
Bill presented a discussion of Municipal Bond Financing Authority, an alternative source of financing for cross-border transportation projects. Such funding could be used for projects such as the Anzalduas border crossing in Texas/Tamaulipas.

Discussion: Jose San Martin indicated that Mexico is looking into financing new border crossings in a manner similar to the way highway projects are funded currently, through private/public investment and the concession process. Currently SCT is investigating three such projects, San Ysidro/Tijuana pedestrian bridge, Donna/Rio Bravo and Los Ebanos/Diaz Ordaz, for private/public concessions with implementation of a shadow toll. Fred Werner requested that Jose San Martin send information on this process to him.

Fred Werner- FHWA
Pilot projects identified in the previous JWC meeting were evaluated by the established subcommittee. However, each of the proposed projects proved to present various difficulties. Two of the projects were withdrawn, and SCT let the concession for the remaining project, the Mexicali by-pass in January 2004. The innovative financing subcommittee will follow up with the remaining pilot project and provide input to the financial plan. Consistent with the FY 2004 pilot project selection process, the JWC selects the Mexicali Baja California by-pass as the pilot project for FY 2004. Further, the JWC commits to assembling a Technical Assistance Team, comprised of US and Mexican public finance team and financial advisory firms working on a pro bono basis, to assist the Mexican government with the financial plan for the Mexicali by-pass.

Further discussion was made about moving forward with innovative financing workshops, future pilot project selection, and identification of projects that could benefit from innovative financing analysis. The following commitments were agreed to. The JWC will inventory projects in all 10 border states that are: 1) border related 2) within 100 km of the border 3) contain an innovative financing component and 4) are past the project development stage. The JWC will develop a proposal for technical assistance on financial plans. This proposal will be circulated via electronic mail for the JWC to review and approve in the time frame between this JWC meeting and the next JWC meeting. The JWC commits to conduct at least one innovative finance workshop in FY 2004, in partnership with a T squared center in the US or Mexico, or by means of alternative linkage(s) identified by the JWC. Further, the JWC commits to developing an agenda for this workshop.

Identification of Bottlenecks at the Border
Pedro Orso-Delgado and Sergio Pallares- Caltrans
This project looks specifically at localized traffic and transportation problems immediately adjacent to and between the Ports of Entry. Using the methodology approved at the prior meeting, and based on the assumption that to avoid bottlenecks the flow entering the system must be balanced to the flow existing the system, Caltrans has conducted all the surveys at various points in the commercial import and export process (both northbound and southbound) at Otay Mesa and the entry and exit of passenger vehicles (both northbound and southbound) at San Ysidro. They are expected to finalize data results by Spring 2004 and will complete and distribute a Final Report by Summer 2004. The JWC agrees that the Bottleneck report shall be completed and distributed so that the methodology can be considered for application to the rest of the border.

Port of Entry Coordination, Pilot
Amadeo Saenz - TxDOT
The U.S. team is ready to begin Phase 3. TxDOT is negotiating a contract with the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to carry out this phase of the project at El Paso-Juarez-Santa Teresa. Funds have been distributed to TxDOT and Chuck Berry, the District Engineer in El Paso has been selected to work with TTI on this project.

Juan Jose Erazo - SCT
The Mexican team is completed with Phase 3 and has documented findings and solutions. The JWC agrees that although the U.S. side of the study has not yet been initiated, the Mexican findings/solutions from the Mexican part of the completed study can move toward implementation.

Otay Mesa ITS Project
Pedro Orso-Delgado - Caltrans
Lisa Dye - FHWA
The original grant, to test and deploy ITS technology at Otay Mesa, was awarded to Caltrans who contracted with the Center for Commercialization for ITS Technology-U.C. Berkeley to test existing technology in applications at Otay Mesa to improve the flow of commercial traffic. The study looked at technical communication, physical infrastructure and institutional coordination. Due to a variety of external influences, DHS subsequently established its own ITS application for border ports of entry, the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) system. FHWA and Caltrans redirected the grant to support the DHS program. An additional lane will be built at the Port of Entry that will be dedicated to the FAST lane. The design is completed and construction will to be initiated by April/May 2004 with construction to be complete by August 2004.

GSA/CABIN Projects with Impacts on the Transportation System
Larry Warner-GSA
Donna Donna/Rio Bravo - The promoter for this bridge holds a presidential permit from 1979. The executive project is advanced and it's on the concession list for SCT. Mexico is interested in financing this project and may donate facilities to the U.S. Government. This would be acceptable if facilities were designed to U.S. standards and requirements. Current proposal is for a passenger vehicle crossing, but there may be interest for a commercial crossing here at some point.

Anzalduas/Reynosa - A request has been submitted to DOS seeking to amend the presidential permit allowing commercial traffic. GSA will need a diplomatic note from Mexico indicating its commitment to the project before a 2004 non-commercial project will be funded. Unless commercial traffic is allowed at this bridge, the funding will fall through, although commercial traffic may be delayed to future years.

Discussion time was limited for this agenda item with many issues remaining to be discussed prior to the BBBXG meeting. A subcommittee will be convened between SRE/DOS/DOT/SCT/GSA & CABIN at upcoming Binational and Bridges and Border Crossing Group Meeting to discuss these issues.

Summary of Commitments and Agreements
Sylvia Grijalva and Juan Jose Erazo reviewed the commitments and agreements from July 2003 and stated the commitments and agreements reached at the current meeting. The JWC agreed with the Commitments and Agreements as read.

Other Decisions
Next Meeting is proposed to be held in conjunction with the 10-year anniversary conference proposed for Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico in late August or mid-September 2004.