JWC Meeting Minutes

Las Cruces, New Mexico
May 24-25, 2005

For this meeting the delegations were as follows:

U.S. Delegation
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) - Cindy Burbank, Jill Hochman, Roger Petzold, Sylvia Grijalva, Lisa Dye, Frederick Werner, Don Martinez, Joseph Maestas, Dan Reagan, Henry Nevares, Michael Avery, Crystal Jones,
US Department of State - Bob Hyams (WHA-MEX), Jim McAnulty, Bill Carroll (U.S. Embassy, Mexico)
General Services Administration (GSA) - Larry Warner
Department of Homeland Security - Janey Rudd
US Customs and Border Protection - Greg Pence, Bradd Skinner
US VISIT - Jeffery Tepsic, David Williams
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) - Gus de la Rosa, Esther Hitzfelder, Efrain Esparza
New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Dept (NMDOT) - Rebecca Montoya, Alvin Dominguez, Joseph de la Rosa
New Mexico Border Authority - Jim Creek
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) - Pedro Orso-Delgado, Sergio Pallares, Mark Baza
Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) - Dale Buskirk, Rudy Perez
Arizona Office of Homeland Security - Jonathon Ammon
Arizona-Mexico Commission - David Randolph

Mexican Delegation
Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT-UAC) - Oscar de Buen, José San Martin, Juan José Erazo, Oscar Ringenbach, Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez
Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT-Planeación) Rafael Martínez, Hiram Martínez
Instituto Mexicano de Transporte (IMT) - Jorge Acha
Caminos y Puentes Federales (CAPUFE) - Octavio Vial
Secretaria de Desarrollo Social - Salvador Gómez Rocha
Instituto de Administración y Avalúos de Bienes Nacionales (indAAbin) -Selene Millan
Comisión de Límites y Aguas (CILA) - Armando Reyes
Aduana - Manuel Ruiz Chávez, Maricela Galicia Aire, Carla Tena Unna
Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores - Arturo Barrio
Gobierno del Estado de Baja California - Rafael Elorduy
Gobierno del Estado de Sonora (SIUE) - Fernando Lam Koerdell
Gobierno del Estado de Chihuahua - Luis Carlos Maines
Gobierno del Estado de Coahuila - Noe García Riojas, Agapito Cruz Galindo
FIDENOR - Regino Villareal
Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León (SCNL) - Juan Raúl Calvillo
Gobierno del Estado de Tamaulipas - Andrés Vel´squez Quiñónez

Consultants
New Mexico State University - Bob Czerniak, Christopher Brown, Mark Bourdon, Elizabeth Ayarbe, Mike Noonchester

May 23, 2005 - U.S. and Mexico Only Sessions

May 24, 2005 - Joint Working Committee Meeting-Joint Session

Welcome and Introductions - Jose San Martin- SCT and Cindy Burbank-FHWA

Approval of minutes from Queretaro November 2004 meeting - All
The JWC approved the minutes

Counter-Terrorism Projects Overview
Summary - Jim McAnulty - U.S. Embassy, Mexico City
The border security projects, including Secure Electronic Network for Travelers' Rapid Inspection, (SENTRI) and SimFronteras are designed to deter terrorists and to ensure safe and secure trade. The Embassy received initial grant funding of $2M of which, approximately 95% has been spent. The projects are nearly completed, with SENTRI at the 90% design completion for most of the 6 ports and SimFronteras nearly complete for 21 Ports of Entry.

Mexican SimFronteras (Border Modeling) - Oscar Ringenbach - SCT SCT is the lead agency in developing SimFronteras, simulation modeling and animation to analyze commercial, private vehicle, and pedestrian traffic entering Mexico at land ports of entry (POEs). The project will be carried out in three phases: data collection at 2 POEs: Mesa de Otay and Colombia-Laredo , data collection at 4 additional POEs: Cd. Juárez (Córdoba- Las Americas), Nuevo Laredo III and Reynosa-Hidalgo and Reynosa-Pharr, and data collection at the remaining 15 POEs: Nogales/Mariposa, 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 Rió, Jerónimo/Santa Teresa, Camargo/Rió Grande City.

Work is currently in phase 3. The program delivery is at the 95% level, 98% of the required reports have been submitted. Documentation in English and Spanish is complete. A user manual is complete in English and in progress in Spanish. Current tasks include presentation of the model to local and federal entities, development of an agreement to share the model with the Technology Transfer (T2) Centers, and training for the model in July 2005. A simulation of the model at the Mesa de Otay Port of Entry was shown, with the emphasis SimFronteras is a model only for Mexican imports and exports and doesn't show what happens in the United States, a drawback for any kind of holistic analysis. Other POE models were shown, including time distributions for each inspection element.

Next steps include using SimFronteras for regional planning, including incorporating the model in the El Paso and San Diego Border Wizard Pilot studies, establishing a working group to see how both Border Wizard and SimFronteras could be used together, and in corridor planning and analysis.

Q: Can a black box version of Border Wizard or SimFronteras be used as a beginning step just to show delays? It would be good later on to see inside the black boxes. Q: What is the schedule for distributing the tool? SRE would like a copy.
A: The models can be shared, but SRE would need a license to use the software. The model/software can be shared for free between the participating agencies. Comment (C): SCT will be working with those in the field, on agreements (Border States, T2 centers) and on training, so the tool will be useful for those that deal with these issues more frequently.

The JWC agreed to form a group to analyze the possibility of linking black box versions of the SimFronteras and Border Wizard.

SENTRI Lanes - Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez - SCT
Several agencies have been coordinating with SCT-which is the lead agency, including INDAABIN, SEDESOL, and INAMI, to complete SENTRI lanes at six locations border wide. A consultant was selected to work to develop biddable packages for six sites: Tijuana-San Ysidro, Mexicali-Calexico, Nogales, Cd. Juarez, Laredo and Matamoros. Both Tijuana and Mexicali are 100% designed, and are expected to open in October/November 2005. Nuevo Laredo and Nogales are 100% designed, with potential opening dates of December 2005 and January 2006 respectively. Lanes in Matamoros and Juarez have proved more difficult, because of indecision about location and toll costs.

Q: Which bridge in Laredo?
A: Juarez-Lincoln
Q: Reynosa is in desperate straits for a SENTRI lane and would be ready to implement immediately, why can't they be rescheduled in front of Matamoros and Cd. Juarez?
A: decision on location of SENTRI lanes is a DHS decision. Reynosa is expected to be in the next set. C: In Matamoros, they are trying to convert the existing bridge (Veterans') to 3NB lanes and 1 SB lane, in order to fit both a FAST lane and a SENTRI lane on the same facility.
Q: Does DHS have the current SENTRI schedule?
A: They are aware of the schedule and the lane openings will be coordinated with them.
Q: Why is it taking so long to get the funding mechanism sorted out?
A: There are a lot of different reasons for this, mainly rules on who can contract to do what where, but the Regional Procurement Support Office is involved now and is working on developing a warrant to fund project. In 2-3 weeks, an interested contractor will visit the California region as a sample project site. Then the contractor will decide if they want project, then they will need to hire a Mexican firm as a subcontractor to actually do the work in Mexico. C: There has been a lot of negative press recently, especially about SENTRI in California/Baja California. C: There is a perceived lack of information on projects at the local level.

Strategic Resource Assessments (SRA) - Greg Pence - CBP
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is responsible to process people, enforce laws and seize and intercept illegal substances at the International POEs. Border Patrol, which is a part of CBP, is responsible for these tasks between the POEs. CBP has a portfolio of assets which includes buildings, inspection equipment and aircraft vessels. Part of CBP's current Capitol Planning Program effort, which has the goals of aligning investment with mission, justifying projects, forecasting growth (20-year horizon), assessing on a regional and national level, and planning/budgeting/executing facility investments objectively and fairly, is the Strategic Resource Assessment (SRA). The SRA combines statistics on workload, facility and stakeholders, identifies current and future needs, and outlines short and long-term facility project needs prioritized across the national portfolio. Two pilot region-sites have been completed, Buffalo NY and Tucson AZ. The reports for these sites are under development, but they will establish key trends/facts and priorities.

The next SRA for the San Diego region is underway. CBP is requesting input from SCT and INDAABIN in this area and is scheduling another site visit to gather this information. The schedule for the other regions has been established, with El Paso to be completed in December 2005, and Laredo in September 2005.

CBP is also developing a Port of Entry Design Guide. The first draft was released late April/early May 2005 and will be reissued with consolidated comments from the draft by June 2005.

C: Stakeholder partnerships are important to this process. C: a meeting will be rescheduled for San Diego so that the Mexican stakeholders can participate.
Q: will Laredo have separate meetings? It is a large region.
A: most likely the region will be divided into two teams and there will be two stakeholder meetings. C: The state DOTs would like to see the draft report, and thank CBP for allowing them to participate. Further they would like to see more information about funding cycles so that they could match up on projects better. C: Some Mexican officials are missing on the official stakeholder lists. SRE will supply a list and contact information on the appropriate agencies to CBP.
Q: How are stakeholder meetings coordinated?
A: Through FHWA. C: the SRA focuses on the U.S. perspective, but they are working to include accurate forecasts on both the U.S. and Mexican sides.

Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) - Cindy Burbank - FWHA
On March 23, 2005 a new trilateral accord was signed between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The SPP seeks to establish a cooperative approach to advance our security and prosperity, develop a common security strategy to further secure North America, and promote economic growth, competitiveness, and quality of life. The SPP is based on the principle that our prosperity is dependent on our security, and recognizes that our three great nations are bound by a shared belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions.

Several of the projects that the JWC is working on fold into the SPP: SENTRI, FAST, SimFronteras/Border Wizard, Innovative Financing, priority transportation corridors, etc. A work plan and schedule to achieve the SPP goals will be released June 23.

Estimating Economic Impact of Border Wait Times - Pedro Orso-Delgado- Caltrans
This objective of this study is to assess the magnitude of the regional economic impact (San Diego-Tijuana) due to delays at the international ports of entry. Findings from this study will help policymakers understand the contribution of cross border travelers to the local economies and provide information for developing policies, planning infrastructure, and helping prioritize investments to improve traffic flow at the border. A presentation was given on the summary survey results, including trip purpose, trip destination and average amounts of money spent per trip. Later this summer the econometric model, based on information gathered from the survey will be developed. The model will look at different sensitivities for travel time, spending and employment behaviors, amongst others, to estimate costs, and will be used as a tool to assess impacts.

Caltrans will report to the JWC on the final results of the study and propose strategies to replicate the model/study at other crossings at the next meeting.

New Concession Schemes for the International Crossings - Jose San Martin - SCT
A summary of trade trends was presented that identify the need for continuing infrastructure development at the international border. Government spending for POEs is about a third of what it should be, spending for maintenance is even less. Recognizing the limitations of government funding and the interest in the private sector to ensure a strong economy, Mexico is establishing a new concession scheme with a focus on private investment and public/private investment to make up the funding gap. Use of public/private investment has increased significantly in the last two years. POE projects are developed based on agreement with Mexican federal agencies considering project feasibility and then via diplomatic note with U.S. federal agencies, who have gone through a similar process. Once a POE project is agreed to, SCT initiates the concession process which includes further feasibility market studies, ROW acquisition, permits, etc. Once the concession process is complete, and a concessionaire is selected, financing is obtained and the project is developed and constructed.

There are six priority projects: San Luis Rió Colorado II, Guadalupe-Tornillo, Nuevo Laredo IV, Díaz Ordáz-Los Ebanos, Reynosa-Anzaldúas, Rió Bravo-Donna. The number one priority is San Luis Río Colorado with a proposed schedule to begin construction in July 2006 and open in August 2007. SCT will coordinate with the U.S. schedule to make sure that both POEs are opened at the same time.

C: San Luis II is also a priority for the State of Arizona.
Q: Why are there projects on the top priority list for Mexico (e.g. Rio Bravo-Donna) that are not priorities for the U.S.?
A: This particular project is a community priority. The private sector would build and pay for the project if it is desirable. C: The two processes need to be closer. There are two different ways to get priorities, and it is a struggle to coincide, but it is imperative that we do so. The State of Arizona will work to coordinate this process as is "within their power". C: SRE also made a commitment to meet with DOS to resolve these issues.

Nogales FAST Lane - Dale Buskirk - ADOT
This is a unique project for two reasons: its antecedents and its precedent setting results. The initial field survey was positive, that a FAST lane could be constructed and built at the Mariposa-Nogales III POE in a few months’ time. A large project team with many stakeholders was initiated by Sylvia that started as a transportation team only, but soon grew to incorporate others, including the private sector. The project will add two additional lanes, one superbooth (an inspection booth shared by ADOT, CBP and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) inspectors), two weigh-in-motion scales, the installation of the FAST/EPIC system technology and dynamic message signs. It was important that the lanes would be constructed during the off-peak produce season so as not to disrupt trade. The biggest issue with the FAST lane project has been over the Presidential Permit, and the interpretation of Executive Order 13337 requiring Presidential Permits for land border POEs. As of the meeting, a draft Presidential Permit has been issued, and should be resolved shortly.

Oscar Ringenbach - SCT
The Mexican side also has a conceptual design project which is being accelerated. The price of the loan for the State of Sonora will be paid for with user fees in 1.5-2 years (maximum). In June there will be a meeting in Hermosillo, Sonora to define final details to realize the project and to figure out how to get the funding. In Mexico the project has two main parts: the bridge expansion itself and the customs part of coordinating times for the FAST lanes etc.

C: This project can be used as an example for further work. C: This project is also important for the state of Sonora and they will be happy to collaborate and do what is necessary to ensure that the project is completed.

JWC Webpage - Sylvia Grijalva - FHWA
The webpage address is www.borderplanning.fhwa.dot.gov. Project reports will be included on the website in the future. If there are links that would be useful to the group, please let Sylvia know, so they can be added. The website will be also available in Spanish (with the participation and help of SCT via a link to SCT’s webpage). While the webpage will highlight what the JWC has achieved, its work plan, projects, and products, it doesn’t need to focus exclusively on JWC work. It could also provide relevant information on other efforts and projects that are happening at the border.

C: In addition to using the webpage as a tool to highlight our efforts and products we could also find other ways to highlight our achievements, such as a publication. C: Translation can be easily obtained for the webpage through FHWA channels. C: Yes, but there are a lot of Americans with Disability Act requirements for the webpage that make it difficult to do a straight translation. C: The Spanish version of the web page can be accessed from the SCT’s site then.

All JWC products including the reports on BINS, Bottlenecks, etc. will be posted on the website. A Spanish language version of the website will be developed and linked to the English version

Border Technology Exchange Program (BTEP) - Henry Nevares - FWHA
BTEP and the Technology Transfer (T2) program is a vehicle to implement FHWA programs and activities that meet the highest priorities of the FHWA: safe, secure and efficient movement of people and goods. The U.S.-Mexico relationship is a priority.

Michael Avery - FHWA
Currently there are T2 centers in each Mexican state, directed by stakeholders from the FHWA, SCT, State Departments of Transportation (U.S. and Mexican) and the Universities. Active programs at the centers include technology transfer, technological assistance, training, annual work programs, and other activities. The future direction of the program will be to bring technology to the users, pursue specialization of centers where that is a preference (e.g. GIS in Sonora or Bridge Inspection in Chihuahua), strengthen the relationship for SCT and the Mexican State Governments, develop border wide activities, update the BTEP/T2 Strategic Plan, multiple and diverse activities, peer exchange, a border wide meeting and the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) annual meeting.

Individual States’ Reports
The Arizona/Sonora program is focusing on laboratory accreditation, putting out a newsletter and training.

The California/Baja California program has two main priorities: funding and matching BTEP/T2 work programs. They are appreciative of the funding the BTEP program has received over the years from FHWA but they are concerned that as the program expands and becomes more popular, at the same time that funding for the program is shrinking, that sufficient funding will not be available. They would like to have a clear understanding of how funding is distributed and what the rules for distribution are. Currently 5 people are involved in the personnel exchange program, they have held 7 seminars, trained 110 people, held several field trips, loaned equipment, and provided licenses for ArcView. The center continues to work to develop the train the trainer program and on publishing a bulletin.

The Texas program works with four Mexican states. Some recent activities were the ATSA conference in Phoenix (Representatives attended from Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua) a rubberized road asphalt conference (reps from Tamaulipas, Chihuahua) where a working group was established to look into recycling/reusing tires, a hosted visit of some Instituto Mexicano de Transporte (IMT) staff to the TxDOT materials lab, and regular distribution of NHI, TxDOT training opportunities (newest course: value engineering). Upcoming activities include a personnel exchange with an engineer from Nuevo Leon, a meeting will be held with the BTEP partners in June to discuss aspects of the TransTexas Corridor, invitation for Mexican engineers to attend the TxDOT design, bridge and construction conferences, the LTAP conference, the Texas Transportation Conference, and regular Comité Directivo meetings will be held with the T2 centers.

The Coahuila T2 has published a bulletin/magazine with articles on public safety, center activities and public transportation operations.

New Mexico has provided assistance at the paving, bridge, concrete and asphalt quality control conferences held there. They have also held field trips to multi-modal facilities in the region. A NMDOT employee is currently in Chihuahua as part of a personnel exchange program. NMSU will be offering a course in the safe transportation of hazardous materials and it is expected that there will be attendance from Chihuahua.

Chihuahua participated in a bridge inspection course and a modified asphalt course.

C: SCT has an emphasis now to ensure that the tools developed by the JWC, such as SimFronteras will be distributed to the T2 centers. The hope is that the centers can use the tools, not only on activities but also to help develop auto-sufficiency through the use of the tools. SCT has signed an agreement with the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT) and plans to sign other agreements with the other border state universities shortly. C: Hopefully the U.S. Embassy and their counterterrorism program can help fund the acquisition of software and equipment necessary for SimFronteras for the T2 centers. C: The World Road Association (PIARC) generates a lot of technical information that can be shared with the BTEP/T2 program. This information is available via web, not only as a resource but also as a way to provide information on a broader basis, to promote technology exchange. Oscar Ringenbach is the contact for SCT-UAC for the PIARC program and will provide information/assistance to anyone that is interested in more information.

Work Plan 2003-2005

Innovative Financing - Frederick Werner, FHWA
Border Finance Inventory
A final report of the inventory of non-fully funded border-related projects that could be potential candidates for innovative financing was submitted to Fred in late April. The purpose of the inventory was to identify projects with funding gaps where innovative financing could be used. The first circulation of the draft report has raised some comments about the listed projects. Each state should review the report, clarify the information and get back to Fred with comments. Approval of the report will be deferred 60 days.

Q: What are we trying to get out of the report? What projects realistically have a chance at innovative funding? The states cannot decide this. Should the projects have a certain time horizon, or a certain environmental milestone? C: More work and reflection needs to be made on this task, what do the states want? Where is the list going? What will the JWC be doing with the list? We need to work more to follow up with this activity to develop a concrete proposal for the JWC to act, because the existing document raises more questions than it provides answers.

Acceptance of the Border Finance Project Inventory was deferred for refinement.
Within 60 days, the states will submit a revised list of projects using the following criteria:

• Environmental work has commenced
• Construction is anticipated by 2010
• Located within 30 miles of the US/Mexico border.
• Has a clear tie to the border (POE)

The finance team will develop and propose concrete strategies to utilize the revised inventory report.

Finance Conference
The finance team is about 80% complete with the agenda for the Border Finance Conference: Innovative Solutions to Challenges to Financing Border Projects, to be held August 16-18 in San Antonio, Texas. The website is up http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/borderconference/ and the invitation letter is complete and being distributed. Registration is available via the webpage and the conference attendance will be capped at 200. The conference is directed to state/local government decision makers in order for them to learn to identify and remove obstacles for getting border projects financed. The agenda is still being clarified, but should be solidified soon.

Q: What activities do we want to see as a follow-up to this conference? Not just as an end in itself. C: A theme to include would be how to finance small projects at the local/sub-regional level. C: We could develop some work plan activities for the JWC from this conference, after the wrap-up session on the last day, the finance team and others could kick back casually to discuss conference outcomes and where to proceed from there, (Jill Hochman volunteers to facilitate) and develop a follow-on strategy to present to the JWC at the next meeting.

Binational Geographic Information System (BGIS) - Christopher Brown- New Mexico State University (NMSU)
The goal of the binational GIS dataset is to extend BGIS as a tool for spatial/non-spatial data which can be used for POE development, port planning, congestion tracking, environment security and safety issues, and future land use and transportation decisions. The GIS consists of two components, spatial layers (roads, railroad, airports, POE locations, etc.) and a table of modal data identifiers on those layers.

Seven spatial layers have been developed: road centerlines, railroad centerline, airport, POE, intermodal facilities, city/Municipio boundaries and land use. The dataset sources are the U.S. DOT, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), SCT and IMT. The related GIS is compiled from a range of sources in the U.S. and Mexico. The GIS team has completed the following tasks: linear referencing of data for five primary binational corridors, processing satellite images at five POEs (Laredo/NL, El Paso/Juarez, McAllen/Reynosa and Mexicali/Calexico and Sta. Teresa/Jerónimo), developing a methodology for BGIS internet mapping, and developing GIS training.

The internet mapping tool currently allows access of geo-spatial data via the web with ArcIMS. These files are accessible at http://river.nmsu.edu/website/jwc. BINS/BGIS data is now available on this NMSU test bed server and builds a helpful front end service for people to understand the product. Additionally, there is a secured site, similar to an FTS site, where GIS data can be downloaded from NMSU. This site is http://mapper.nmsu.edu/web/BGIS/BGIS.htm. The user ID for this file is geography/bgis and the password is BGIS. This server allows JWC members to access data sets and other data products (such as the PowerPoint presentations of the May meeting).

Interest in GIS training was solicited from U.S. counties. Several were interested and 3 counties were signed up and ready to go, but then didn’t have the travel budget to attend. NMDOT is considering funding the travel so that the counties can attend the training course. The course will include introduction to spatial data, basic GIS principles, exploring spatial data, simple operations such as retrieve, display and examine data, and metadata standards and application. The final deliverables on the GIS work plan items will include a virtual web folder for raw data, a completed ArcIMS site for ease of internet mapping and the training modules and data sets.

NMSU also has recommendations for future work and enhanced BGIS and BINS II integration. NMSU would also like to see a stronger integration with the BINS product. Recommendations for BINS/BGIS integration were developed at the technical team meeting in April 2005, and were accepted at the meeting.

The JWC accepted the GIS Subcommittee’s recommendations to the JWC. Those recommendations are as follows:

• Border Geographic Information Systems project (BGIS) and Border Infrastructure Needs Assessment phase II (BINS II) to work together to form an integrated partnership. With joint representation of BGIS staff on the BINSII Technical Committee and BINS staff on BGIS project.
• BINS II Technical Committee and BGIS staff to work to insure that BINS II data are geo-spatially referenced and "GIS compatible."
• Mexican States and SCT are to share regional transportation plans with BGIS and BINSII staff integration into BINS II transportation plans.
• US states are to share regional transportation plans with BGIS and BINSII staff for integration into BINSII transportation plans
• BGIS and BINS staff, working with other federal agencies in the US and Mexico, will work to integrate safety, security, and environmental issues, variables, and data into future products of BGIS and BINSII.

Additionally NMSU discussed other ways that BGIS could be used: where NMSU could provide turnkey support for small counties on GIS via development of regions for small counties/municipalities, provide software via grants from ESRI (the ArcView software developer) connect GIS to the BTEP program, and provide long term support to counties. Another project would be to enhance the ArcIMS system by linking it to other work products from NMSU such as the Paso del Norte project and work done for SCERP/EPA.

Juan Jose Erazo-SCT
The GIS is another good tool that the JWC is producing. It is a big job to link data and SCT is investigating its own data sources in Mexico to improve its internal GIS system. We need to consider, what can we use this product for? How can we use the GIS to plan projects in the border region? This product interlinks with many other JWC products. How can they be used most efficiently together? What are the next steps?

Q: How will an integrated partnership between BGIS and BINS work? C: If the BINS/BGIS technical groups meet quarterly, if state GIS technical representatives work together with the BINS people and if systems are built together, then the projects could be integrated. C: the work group needs representation from both disciplinary areas for it to be truly integrated, and input needs to be consistent, no "attend if you can" mentality. C: A new committee to ensure integration could be established. C: The most important time of integration is during the framing of the database, not all the way throughout. Each State reports data differently therefore they need to be at the meetings. From the beginning both disciplines need to be well and consistently represented. The technical personnel from BGIS and BINS will work together to develop the "framework" to ensure the integration of BINSII and BGIS. A request was made to have these technical meetings to be scheduled with sufficient advance notice that those who need to be there will be able to attend.

Rafael Martinez - SCT Planeación
SCT is developing a new nationwide system for GIS that is built upon a similar platform as ArcVIEW. This software will be available for use by all SCT staff in Mexico. The database will be populated with socioeconomic data, roadway data by facility type, hydrology information, political boundaries, railroads, ports and airports. This information will be available to us and can be used in conjunction with the BGIS project. NAFTA data will also be shortly available in three languages via the SCT’s webpage where it will be accessible by all three NAFTA nations. SCT Planeación is willing and happy to help wherever GIS information or NAFTA information is required. Juan Jose will ensure the information being developed for the GIS program by the SCT will be coordinated with the JWC work plan items.

Port of Entry Coordination, Pilot - Gus de la Rosa, TxDOT
The Coordination Pilot builds on previous study identifying shortcomings in coordination at U.S.-Mexico ports of entry and works to implement recommended alternatives. The TxDOT/TTI team identified two key issues for implementation under the Phase 3 pilot program to implement: Elimination of Multiple Stops through sharing of data (trucks inspected by different agencies at different locations) and Extended Hours of Operation. The project progress has been put on hold pending financing ($70,000 is required), although some coordination is continuing in the meantime. TxDOT is responsible for construction of the Border Safety Inspection Facilities; as part of this construction they are working to develop Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) software that will allow TxDOT and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to share information, thus eliminating double inspection of commercial vehicles. This system will be in place at the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA) BSIF which will begin construction in fall 2005.

Juan Jose Erazo - SCT
Mexico has finished the preliminary phases of this project and submitted its alternatives to the Comisión Intersecretarial para la Coordinación Operativa en los Puntos de Internación al Territorio Nacional (CICOPI), the intergovernmental agency who makes decisions on changes at POEs. CICOPI meets periodically and is more or less in agreement with the recommendations. Implementation may be forthcoming. SCT would like to establish a pilot study, and include new tools, such as SimFronteras, that have been developed since the POE coordination pilot first began.

C: TxDOT thinks that it would be good to combine tools and could use the El Paso Border Wizard pilot project as a test pilot study for this combination of tools.

Bottleneck Study: Transportation Infrastructure and Traffic Management Analysis of Cross Border Bottlenecks
Pedro Orso-Delgado - Caltrans

Caltrans was asked by the JWC to develop a border-wide and multimodal bottleneck methodology that would identify low cost/high result solutions per the U.S-Mexico Border Partnership Action Plan. The completed methodology was presented and approved In Queretaro in November 2004. Caltrans has benefited from use of the study and wants to continue to market it to the JWC members. By implementing some of the recommendations from the study, 30% of commercial traffic has been rerouted outside of the commercial facility at Otay Mesa. Caltrans is further using the study in consultation with the mayor of Tijuana in response to a request to improve bottlenecks.

Border Wizard Pilot - Lisa Dye - FHWA
The purpose of the Border Wizard pilot was to evaluate the compatibility and linkages between Border Wizard and local or regional travel demand forecasting models. Four pilots are being sponsored with two southern border Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) involved: El Paso MPO and San Diego Association of Government (SANDAG). The El Paso MPO is looking to link Border Wizard with the Transborder Travel Demand Model, model existing conditions, test a transit queue-jumper lane at Paso del Norte, and test a new crossing at Sunland Park. Training for MPO (and Instituto Municipal de Planeación (IMIP) staff from Cd. Juarez) will take place in July 2005. SANDAG plans to link Border Wizard with SANDAG’s regional transportation planning model. They will use the Otay Mesa POE and test various wait times and queues as outputs from Border Wizard and inputs into the regional model. SANDAG has elected to hire Regal to provide the model runs directly, has received a cost proposal from them and will be contracting with them in July.

2005-2007 Work Plan

Border Master Plan Proposal Pedro Orso-Delgado - Caltrans

Caltrans has developed a proposal to create a border-wide master plan with a comprehensive and prioritized assessment of the bi-state POE and transportation needs. This proposal is based on the observation that there are a lot of different proposals floating about for long-range activities for existing and new POEs, generated from many different sources. State/local/federal governments have overlapping interests at the POEs but have been discussing the need for a master plan that provides order to the planning process. Such a plan would need to be collaborative and could be used in all of the planning and programming processes. The goal is to develop a prioritized list of projects (transportation and POE projects) for the short-, medium- and long-term. The Border Master Plan will incorporate the BINS I/BINS II efforts and move beyond them to an updatable working plan for border projects.

The plan will be carried out via the following work tasks: stakeholder participation via a Policy Advisory Committee (PAC), determination of existing capacity and demand, estimation of growth and future demand, analysis and prioritization of needs, public outreach, development of a final document, and implementation of the document. Caltrans will test the plan with a pilot study using the San Diego/Baja California region.

Q: How is this effort different from the Strategic Resource Assessment that CBP is working on? A: This plan will build on that one. C: There is a worry that the transportation sector will tell CBP what to do, this process will need to be collaborative to avoid such impressions. C: SCT is working with SRE to refine the process of how new POEs are selected. This Master Plan could work in conjunction with that effort.
Q: Will corridors and Origin-Destination Data be included in the plan?
A: That will be part of data collection effort. C: This is a needed tool, especially because of the San Ysidro project, which is really part of a regional system, even though no one has evaluated the system that way yet. This will help CBP in their efforts. C: SRE is willing to work with Caltrans on this project. C: What a great idea! The methodology is clear and well defined and with key tools such as the PAC, collaboration will be guaranteed. We are very happy to see land use and growth included as part of the consideration. C: We need the master plan for ALL states, not just California.

The Regional Border Master Plan concept will be included in the 2005-2007 Work Plan. Within two weeks, Caltrans will develop a new project summary/Scope of Work that will be circulated for review.

Innovative Financing of Low Cost-High Impact Projects
This work plan item was initially conceived as an outflow of the Nogales III/Mariposa FAST lane project. The idea was to identify other projects where flexible funding could be utilized, and where results could be obtained quickly. The JWC needs to design a methodology or procedures to identify and plan these types of projects, most of which will need Presidential Permits for the U.S. portion. The effort to finance low cost/high impact projects will be included in the 2005-2007 work plan. The JWC will document the Nogales, Mariposa experience as a guide for other projects.

Each state along with their partner state will identify one or two projects of interest using the following criteria:

• Improves the efficiency in the area around a POE
• Can be implemented in the short term

The JWC will develop stakeholders group to follow up on each project.
Border Information Flow Architecture (BIFA) - Crystal Jones -FHWA
At the March 2004 JWC meeting a subcommittee was established to discuss whether the JWC wanted to get involved in the development of a BIFA/ITS Border Architecture for the US and Mexico. The subcommittee (including Adrian Apodaca, Don Martinez, Sylvia Grijalva, Lisa Dye, Crystal Jones, Juan Jose Erazo, Oscar Ringenbach, Venancio Perez, Oscar Cruz and Mike Noonchester of the PSL at New Mexico State University among others) met several times and came up with a proposed action plan which was presented and approved at the Queretaro meeting in November 2004.

The action plan seeks to: 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 , and enhance information exchange, coordination and communication. 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.

The Action Plan identifies a four step process: Getting Started- identifying need, stakeholders and champions and defining the region, Data Gathering-identification of systems, determination of needs and services, development of operational concept and definition of functional requirements, Defining Interfaces-identification of interconnects and interfaces, definition of information flow, and Pilot Consideration- development of information flow architecture, evaluation of proposed projects, application of architecture to selected project, and re-evaluation of information flow architecture.

Progress on this project is pending funding, which may come from FHWA’s ITS Program Office or from another source. Crystal Jones will write up a justification for funds for this project, including a discussion of "lessons learned" from the ongoing U.S.-Canada effort for BIFA.

The BIFA Action plan will be included in the 2005-2007 Work Plan.

Border Infrastructure Needs Assessment (BINS II)
Mark Baza - Caltrans

The BINS II project will build upon recommendations from the BINS I study: improve corridor and project identification, collect data to fill gaps in BINS I, develop an update mechanism for BINS I, redefine transportation corridors considering continuity, enhance corridor evaluation process and re-evaluate accordingly, and enhance compatibility of BINS I data with the Binational Geographic Information System (BGIS). The estimated cost for BINS II is $150,000 with a completion date of 12 months after award of contract. The BINS II/GIS project will be included in the 2005-2007 Work Plan. The BINS team continues to work with the BGIS team to make sure that coordination is carried out between the two Work Plan items.
The GIS subcommittee recommendations will be folded into the BINS II project.

C: It would be good to have information about the BINS I project on the JWC webpage, with a discussion of the corridors, including their definition, why they are important for transportation and information about the corridors. People would be interested in this. SCT has a web page showing data about the toll-road system that gets approximately 1,000 requests per day. C: The information could be provided via secondary and tertiary web pages, or links from the official JWC website.

Bottlenecks Study Phase 2+ - Juan Jose Erazo, SCT
This proposal as presented seeks to use JWC developed tools to identify measures at the macro-and micro-levels that could improve traffic flow. The project will use SimFronteras, STAN and other available transportation models to develop a regional operations model. This model would look at urban and design characteristics, through field studies, to evaluate corridors serving POEs. The project effort will last approximately 6 months.

C: This project is markedly different than the previous Bottlenecks study, we suggest calling it a Regional Operations Model. The Regional Operations Model will be included in the 2005-2007 Work Plan.

Bottlenecks Study
The Bottlenecks pilot study developed by Caltrans and discussed under the 2003-2005 Work Plan previously will be carried over to the current work plan. Once funding is released the pilot can be replicated in other locations. The bottlenecks study using the methodology developed by Caltrans for the JWC will be included in the 2005-2007 Work Plan.

Binational Safety Conscious Planning Seminar - Sylvia Grijalva- JWC
This conference is intended to bring together the safety and planning communities to incorporate safety into the planning process. Preliminary discussions on the seminar have led to a tentative schedule of April 2006 in Tucson, Arizona. ADOT will be contributing $30,000 for this conference via a BTEP Grant from FHWA’s Office of International Programs. Potential topics could include road safety, pedestrian safety, vehicle safety, border control checkpoint design and others. The Safety Conscious Planning Seminar will be included in the 2005-2007 Work Plan.

The following subcommittee is tasked to develop the Safety Conscious Planning Seminar including the agenda, location and target audience: Pedro Orso-Delgado, Caltrans, Rafael Elorduy and Carlos Lopez, Baja California, Dale Buskirk, ADOT, Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Oscar Ringenbach, SCT, Gus de La Rosa, TxDOT, Carmen Nava, UAT, Antonio Garcia Chavez and Alberto Mendoza Diaz, IMT, Sylvia Grijalva and Lisa Dye, FHWA, *Joseph de la Rosa, NM DOT, *Selene Millan, INDAABIN, *Mike Avery, FHWA (* new additions submitted at May meeting)

Border Wizard/SimFronteras Pilot regional study in the El Paso/Cd. Juarez and San Diego/Tijuana areas
This effort was included as part of the 2003-2005 Work Plan as discussed earlier in the meeting. A suggestion was made that the MPOs should try to incorporate both Border Wizard and SimFronteras into the subject pilots. The Regional BW projects will be included in the 2005-2007 Work Plan.

Outreach Strategies
While the JWC has developed a lot of useful tools for planning and programming there has not been a lot of external dissemination. The proposal for the work plan is to heighten awareness of the JWC as a group, to raise its image, and to implement an effective dissemination of JWC tools and products to implementing agencies and organizations that would utilize the tools developed by the JWC. The development and implementation of an Outreach Strategy will be included in the 2005-2007 Work Plan. A work group should be established to come up with ideas, a good approach on how to do this, and then report back to the JWC at the next meeting. The following subcommittee is tasked to develop marketing strategies to be proposed to the JWC at the next meeting: Sergio Pallares-Caltrans, Rafael Elorduy-Baja California, Juan Jose Erazo-SCT, Oscar Ringenbach-SCT, Lisa Dye- HWA, and Sylvia Grijalva-FHWA

Strategic Plan
Based on discussions with the BTEP partners it was decided that the BTEP strategic plan will need to be updated to include new activities. Updating of the BTEP strategic plan will be included in the 2005-2007 Work Plan. The FHWA Office of International Programs and the BTEP partners will be reviewing and updating the BTEP strategic plan to include new activities. Crystal Jones of FHWA has agreed to participate in this effort.

Summary of Commitments and Agreements

Sylvia Grijalva and Juan Jose Erazo stated the commitments and agreements reached at the current meeting. The JWC agreed with the Commitments and Agreements as read.

Other Decisions and Discussion

All of the documented presentations presented at the JWC meeting will be forwarded upon request and will be uploaded to the NMSU webpage for JWC located at http://mapper.nmsu.edu/web/BGIS/BGIS.htm
user ID: geography/bgis
password: BGIS.

Next Meeting is to be held in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora in mid October 2005.