U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee (JWC) Meeting Minutes

Santa Fe, New Mexico
July 13-15, 2009

For this meeting the delegations were as follows:

U.S. Delegation

Mexican Delegation

Consultants and Others

July 13, 2009 - afternoon - U.S. and Mexico Only Sessions
July 14, 2009 - Joint Working Committee Meeting-Joint Session¹

Welcome, Meeting Purpose and Introductions - Bill Hume, Policy Director, Office of the Governor of New Mexico, Jill Hochman, FHWA and José San Martin, SCT

Jill Hochman introduced Bill Hume who extended a warm welcome to the "City Different" from Governor Bill Richarson. Mr. Hume gave a brief history of the state and of Santa Fe's importance in that history. He referenced the Chinese Proverb "may you live in interesting times" and encouraged the JWC to be mindful of the current challenges: immigration, finance and security concerns, and to not hesitate to continue to work to solve these problems. Mr. Hume referenced some of the successful JWC work products that have already addressed some important border issues including the Border Master Plan. He reminded the group to not forget the 3 New Mexico Ports of Entry (POEs), and encouraged all to continue the work for economy, security and quality of life. Jill Hochman thanked NMDOT, the New Mexico Border Authority and the New Mexico FHWA Division office for hosting and assistance with the meeting and welcomed the group participants to the meeting. Jose San Martin echoed the thanks and the welcome.

Approval of minutes from Tijuana, December 2008 meeting - All
The JWC approved the minutes without comment.

National Transportation Policies - Jill Hochman, FHWA and José San Martin, SCT

José San Martin introduced Juan Jose Erazo, SCT who gave a powerpoint presentation on Mexico's transportation priorities for their northern and southern borders. On the northern border, SCT has identified 8 city pairs (San Diego/Tijuana, Mexicali/Calexico, Nogales/Nogales, El Paso/Cd. Juarez, Eagle Pass/Piedras, Laredo/Laredo, McAllen/Reynosa, and Brownsville/Matamoros) that handle significant volumes of passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and pedestrians. In fact, 97% of all cross border flows cross through these regions. SCT has developed forecasts out to 2020 showing increases and identifying those POEs/roadways that will need capacity increases. Current issues identified include lack of capacity, increasing border wait times, lack of personnel, no room to expand (physical constraints), poor urban planning, no good alternatives circulation (libramientos) around urban areas for either rail or vehicular transportation, and congestion at the POEs. SCT's plan for the future includes modernization of existing infrastructure where possible (including expansion/incorporation of Secure Electronic Network for Travelers' Rapid Inspection (SENTRI) lanes or Free and Secure Trade (FAST) lanes - trusted traveler lanes for vehicles and cargo/trucks respectively), construction of new infrastructure (new POEs and libramientos for vehicles and rail), and integration of transportation modes including transit, rail bridges, libramientos and development of intermodal centers. SCT is asking for help with Presidential permits, innovative finance, more POE operations staff (in both nations), expanded hours of operation, more FAST/SENTRI lanes, exchange of information for and incorporation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in the POEs, and construction of libramientos and improved highway access to the POEs. SCT expects that in the period of 2007-2012 that they will be able to increase capacity by 30%: with six new POEs (three are currently in construction), 14 new SENTRI lanes (seven complete now), 14 new FAST lanes (seven complete now), seven new vehicular libramientos, three new rail bridges, two libramientos for rail and two public transit/bus rapid transit systems. SCT would like to see their national priorities worked into the JWC 2010-2012 Work Plan as possible.

Jill Hochman gave an overview of some on-going U.S. national transportation issues. There is currently a concern about full funding of the Highway Trust Fund. The new Secretary of Transportation, Mr. LaHood has testified to 3 general emphasis areas: transportation safety, climate change and livability. This last emphasis area, livability, focuses on better links between transportation planning and land use planning. In addition to Mr. LaHood, who is from Illinois, the new Deputy Secretary is John Porcari, from Maryland DOT. The new Undersecretary for Policy is Roy Kienitz from Pennsylvania. Victor Mendez, the former director of transportation for ADOT has been appointed as the FHWA Administrator, and the FHWA Deputy Administrator is Greg Nadeau, formerly of the Maine DOT.

A series of discretionary grants, TIGER grants, a component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are due in a few weeks, and border projects, among many others, are expected to compete for funds. The Department of Transportation's authorizing legislation, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), expires at the end of September 2009. Without some sort of congressional action, either for a new authorizing bill, or an extension of the current authorizing bill, there may be a delay in some payments to state departments of transportation, and/or the business of the department will be run on a week to week basis. At this time the President and Secretary LaHood have proposed an 18-month extension to SAFETEA-LU, essentially funding transportation on levels similar to FY2009. A conflicting proposal put forth by Congressman Oberstar would eliminate entirely the Coordinated Border Infrastructure Fund (for exclusive use on projects at or near the international borders). The U.S. Senate has not yet taken up transportation legislation because it has been or will be busy with health care reform, an energy bill (cap and trade, global climate changes), and immigration reform. At this time, it is unknown what programs or funding levels will emerge.

State Commentary - NMDOT mentioned that both the Mexican priorities and those mentioned by Jill fit well with New Mexico's priorities and plans, which moves beyond just building highway facilities, to how infrastructure fits in with the world around it, including land use planning, which is one way to incorporate livability into transportation planning, as was demonstrated by the California/Baja California Master Plan Project.

AZDOT indicated that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) secured ARRA funds for truck-stop electrification implementation in a two phase process: for the first phase electrification units will be installed at truck stops and then for the second phase installation will be expanded to include two border ports of entry (Mariposa in Nogales and San Luis II). The original scope of work included installation at rest areas, however at the present time they are not allowed by federal law.

TxDOT will be looking at how to address environmental issues, including some projects adding extra queuing lanes in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Area and moving forward with wait-time projects.

Caltrans will be updating the California/Baja California Border Master Plan, looking at implementation of refrigerated truck facilities, truck stop electrification and all lanes at POEs being SENTRI equipped.

SIAVE (Mexican Customs Entrance Inspection) - Sean Cázares, SRE

Sean provided an overview of the SIAVE program that is being installed border-wide at entrances into Mexico. The current inspection system at entrances to Mexico takes approximately 3 seconds, with implementation of SIAVE, this inspection time is expected to increase to 8 to 10 seconds, maximum. The system includes gates, signals and measurement of vehicle shapes, weights and vehicle scans. Those vehicles that are referred to secondary inspection will be entered into an electronic system via a special kiosk and computer station. Sean emphasized that he has seen the system in operation and does not believe that once drivers become accustomed to the gates and lights, that the actual delay will increase much and that there should be additional queuing during the peak hours only.

Discussion: Pedro indicated that there has been a lot of bad information or lack or information about the program. Caltrans conducted a queuing analysis of the system, specific to the San Ysidro POE, and determined that at an inspection rate of 8 or fewer seconds there will be no additional wait times, if the inspection rate exceeds 8 seconds then queues will be expected to form (at 12 seconds, expected queues could be as much as 2.5 hours). The mayors of Nuevo Leon and Cd. Juarez have reported bad implementation of the program. It would be prudent for Mexican Customs and the Mexican government to have a public information campaign (specifically targeted at users - not just government officials, who have been adequately briefed) to provide instructions on how the system works and when to expect implementation of the system. Sean has agreed to pass this suggestion on to Mexican customs as a potential way to reach the users. Dan Voll further clarified that if there is an issue with a specific vehicle that it is removed from the primary inspection lanes and taken to secondary for entry into the electronic system via the kiosks. He asked if this information would be shared with the U.S. government or with CBP. Sean answered that the exchange of information is not occurring now, but that it is a goal of the program that the information be shared. Guillermo Valenzuela also indicated that CBP and other U.S. agencies seem to have increased southbound inspections at the El Paso/Juarez POEs which is adding to the congestion. Mexican military checkpoints in the Republic of Mexico are also increasing general delays at the POEs.

SimFronteras (Mexican Border Wizard) - Jorga Acha, IMT and Manny Cuan, SCT

Analysis -Jorge Acha gave a presentation on the determination of capacity for commercial vehicles at POEs using the SimFronteras software. IMT used data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and from the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT) to develop projections of future vehicle grown and then looked at eleven different POEs that handle commercial vehicle traffic to determine what year the POEs would become constrained (using current hours of operation). By comparing constraints across the border it can be seen when and where projects will need to be implemented to meet commercial vehicle demand for both the export and the import side. IMT looked at a range of forecasts determining an optimistic and pessimistic time table. Based on the analysis, unless there is a huge unexpected decrease in demand several POEs will soon be over capacity. SCT and IMT intend to keep using SimFronteras to evaluate the projects and would like to update the SimFronteras model to show changes in operation and processing in order to model the POEs most realistically. In the short term, SCT committed to looking into how to evaluate SIAVE with SimFronteras.

Discussion: Juan Jose would like to see all wait time information, SIAVE information, ITS information gathered, stored and exchanged for use in SimFronteras and for other uses border-wide. This data effort will be incorporated as part of the 2010-2012 JWC Work Plan. A question was raised about discrepancies with Mariposa POE data. The data for Mariposa is very old, and therefore does not match actual conditions. Dan Darrach commented that although it seems that adding additional processing hours could increase capacity for commercial vehicles, that in almost all cases where added lanes were tested, carriers did not take advantage of the expanded hours to affect the capacities significantly.

Equipment and Software (CeTraTeT) - Manny Cuan expressed regrets on behalf of William Carroll of the Department of State located at U.S. Embassy in Mexico City in the Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS). SCT has been working with on distribution of the SimFronteras microsimulation mode, and has developed agreements with individual Centros de Transferencia de Technologia (CeTraTets) for computers and software. SCT also supports the creation of a database and data sets that will allow data to be shared among the CeTraTeTs for use in SimFronteras and other applications. SCT, in conjunction with IMT will be providing training on the software and machines to the universities in the near-term. SCT will complete promised exchange of data and equipment to CeTraTeTs.

A joint CETRATET/BTEP meeting has been proposed for August 2009, in Hermosillo, Sonora, to discuss these agreements and the programs in general. From the last JWC meeting, SCT had three focus areas for the CeTraTeTs and the BTEP program: ITS, Value Engineering, and the distribution of the SimFronteras microsimulation model. This activity will complete the distribution as proposed.

Discussion: Ramon will inquire again how feasible is a working connection between the SimFronteras model and BorderWizard model. Both countries are using similar but different models, with different baselines. Coordination may require a lot of capital investment. SCT and GSA will explore better ways of coordinating BorderWizard and SimFronteras. Joseph raised the issue of the Border Technology Exchange Program state pairs (BTEP) and the lack of support from the BTEP program financially for the CeTraTeT work plans. Given the level of support it seems probable that the BTEP program will be un-sustainable but that the CeTraTeT program should continue on. As the U.S. States are not allowed to use BorderWizard, the interface between the two models will have little impact to them. It was decided that in the future the BTEP/CeTraTet program will focus on things it can accomplish.

2005-2007 Work Plan - Projects approved as part of the 2005-2007 Work Plan are discussed below.

Border Infrastructure Needs Assessment (BINS II)/Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - Joseph de la Rosa, NMDOT, Chris Brown, NMSU and Alfredo Granados, Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez

Joseph introduced Chris Brown who gave an overview of the project including discussion of data compilation to date and web-based training. The effort has focused on how to implement recommendations from BINS and then on how to link BINS and BGIS data together. NMSU has developed a state pair system of maps and is working on reviewing those maps, which will then be uploaded into a web-based interface where users will be able to download data. Because of the sheer volume of data, and based on varying detailed data and different geographic scales, the maps are fairly complicated. Dividing the maps by state pairs will allow NMSU to complete and post the information in a timely manner. NMSU has offered to continue to host the mapping and database indefinitely beyond the completion of the contract.

Discussion: There is still some missing data, even after the individualized data search effort by NMSU and Alfredo. SCT and IMT will continue to participate with NMSU to provide available data. One drawback in the state pair mapping solution is that individual corridors (e.g. east to west, or multi-state) are not viewable in their entirety. Data is available for the entire corridors but it is difficult to look at entire corridor at once. Joseph is happy to have reached this point and wants to move forward into the next phases of the project by offering GIS training or development of database training to any interested agency. This effort will be funded by NMDOT BTEP training funds. Training sessions held to date have been good, useful and fun. Crystal had some questions about the Origin and Destination (O-D) Matrix for the project, which was based on value of freight and upon the cities that had the largest number of industrial jobs. The resulting O-D matrix is valid therefore at a macro-level, but not very accurate at the micro-level.

2008-2010 Work Plan - Projects approved as part of the 2008-2010 Work Plan are discussed below.

Border Innovative Finance Activities:

SR11/Otay Mesa East - Pedro Orso-Delgado, Caltrans, gave a presentation California Border Innovative Finance Activities for the SR11/Otay Mesa East POE project, a mixed-flow POE and freeway financed by tolls and constructed as a turn-key operation for CBP and GSA. The project is being managed jointly by Caltrans and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) under the responsibility of one corridor director who oversees three project development teams: project delivery, finance, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS). For the project delivery team, currently work is being conducted on the Tier 2/Phase 2 Environmental document (for completion in summer 2010), work on the GSA Project Design Study (PDS). Design and project right of way work is scheduled for completion by 2011, and construction is expected to begin 2012, with operation of the project by 2014. Part of the project financing ($75million) comes through California Transportation Corridor Improvement Funds which require that the project must be under construction by 2013 or the funds will lapse. The financial team is working to hire a financial consultant, who is expected to be selected by October 2009 and under contract by early 2010. The ITS team has submitted a white paper to FHWA for grant money to develop an ITS architecture and to work with FHWA and SCT on ITS coordination. Part of the challenge of this project is that the final product will be given to GSA and CBP, and this is a new model. Current project critical path is the ability for GSA to participate in the PDS and Caltrans is working to transfer $300,000 of its Coordinated Border Infrastructure (CBI) funding to GSA to help in this effort. They will be submitting a request to FHWA for this transfer in July 2009, once they receive the required supporting documentation from GSA.

Mesa de Otay II/Tijuana - Carlos Rodriguez, SIDUE, indicated that the State of Baja California constructed a libramiento six years ago that will help provide access to the proposed POE and that they have worked with the State of California to determine best alignment for the interface of the two land parcels, and entrances. The project in Baja California will also consist of the POE and the access road.

Manny Cuan, SCT indicated that they are working on a Proyecto Ejecutivo, drafting language for the concession and developing a project calendar.

Discussion: At present, U.S. and Mexican schedules are not aligned. The U.S. schedule is being directed not by design considerations/restrictions but due to the environmental process and requirements. Once the environmental studies are done then Caltrans can work to accelerate the schedule. Acquiring land in the U.S. will also take time. By next summer (July 2010) Caltrans will be in a better position to discuss potential alignment of project schedules. Mexico's main concern is that the project is built, not necessarily if the project calendars exactly match. The U.S. is committed to the project but cannot commit to a schedule at the present time. An exchange of diplomatic notes will help facilitate the schedule alignment. Cal y Mayor and Gannett Fleming have been selected to develop the ITS concept of operations for the Tijuana region and will be in San Diego to meet with Caltrans on the project the week of July 20, 2009.

Public-Private Partnership Potential for Arizona - Rudy Pérez, ADOT

ADOT has selected Wilbur Smith Consultants to work on a study requested by the Arizona-Mexico Commission and funded with JWC funds, to determine the feasibility of using Public-Private Partnerships (P3) in Arizona and Sonora for both POEs and related connectivity. Rudy introduced Grant Holland, who gave an overview of the study. The study will look at what are objectives in the P3 for both the private sector, and the public sector side. There are four basic models for P3: design-build finance, design-build operate and maintain, design-build finance operate and maintain and concession. The benefit of partnerships is that project risk can be transferred to the private sector, but not all risks can be transferred including environmental work, right-of-way work and hazardous materials responsibilities. Some implementation issues include operational issues, geographic issues, coordination, regulation/legal issues, public acceptance, and limited border application P3s to date. Revenue streams can come from user charges (tolls, advertisements, leases, payments for goods) or tax related fees (traffic improvement zones, development fees etc). The study evaluated freight flow dynamics - including the present economic downturn, new highway construction in Sonora, the development possibilities of the Punta Colonet deep water port and a Yuma inland port. The study identified 14 potential P3 projects for Arizona, of which 11 projects were deemed most viable: San Luis: surface streets, Nogales Mariposa: has the greatest potential but some issues with no 24/7 operation and a transfer of a free road to a tolled-road, Nogales DeConcini: intermodal freight facility or rail relocation, Douglas: Chino Road improvements, and a project in Pima County. The study may help in achieving legislative support for this type of POE financing, as public-private partnerships are not currently authorized in the State of Arizona.

Traffic Studies and Transportation Modeling Peer Exchange

Peer Exchange (Cross Border Data Dogs) - Lisa Dye, FHWA

The objective of the Data Dog group is increased understanding of forecasting and traffic modeling practices. This exchange will be a first step in a possible harmonization of traffic projections or methodologies to be used when making decisions about new or modernizing ports of entry. The peer exchange concept was first discussed as a follow-up item from the California-Baja California Master Plan and subsequently added as a JWC 2008-2010 work plan item. Two meetings of the Data Dogs have been held, the first in June 2008 and the second in December 2008. Both meetings generated further interest in harmonizing data collection, in data sharing and collaboration and in development of a data inventory of sources, platforms and best practices. The Data Dogs have an interactive web page located within the FHWA Communities of Practice. The web link is https://knowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/cops/hcx.nsf/home?OpenForm&Group=Cross%20Border%20Data%20Dogs&tab=REFERENCE. Materials from the meetings are posted there, and there is a place for individuals to subscribe to the group and get more information. Any JWC member interested in data and traffic forecasting is encouraged to participate.

Traffic Studies - Rudy Pérez, ADOT

Arizona State University (ASU) has been awarded a contract by ADOT to identify prior traffic forecasts for the Nogales POE, document current conditions, develop a new forecast model and conduct model runs to get future forecasts to determine appropriate infrastructure capacity. Rudy introduced Rene Villalobos to discuss the results of the study. ASU developed models for border crossings for three modes of traffic for 5-, 10- and 15-year horizons. They looked at a range of factors to develop the models including historic trends, the exchange rate, economic factors etc. They developed both a time series model and a multi-variable regression model, then checked to see how models successfully predicted actual cross-border traffic flows, then developed a 15-year forecast with low, medium and high predictions. An interesting discovery from the analysis is that other external factors have less influence on passenger vehicle traffic than previously thought, and in point of fact the exchange rate has the highest correlation to predicting traffic flow. Now that the models are complete, ADOT will evaluate the capacity of the POEs and then determine what improvements may be necessary.

Greening the Border - Sylvia Grijalva, FHWA

As Jill mentioned in her introduction, FHWA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), are collaborating on the green border/livability concept. FHWA will be developing a workshop to discuss concepts related to this: noise pollution, air quality, water quality, hazardous materials issues, green energy, etc. most probably in Tucson, Arizona. The JWC will develop and hold a workshop/seminar/forum on how to incorporate components addressing environmental and livability issues/green project expansion into border project planning and design. The workshop will also address required environmental criteria for NADBANK grant and loan applications so that project sponsors are able to generate more complete applications. The following JWC members committed to participate in the greening the border concept conference: Crystal Jones, Esther Hitzfelder and Shawna Russell, Juan Carlos Gastelum and Luis Treviño, Manny Cuan and Juan Jose Erazo, Marisa Walker and Rudy Perez, Pedro Orso-Delgado, Dan Voll, Nelda Bravo, Sylvia Grijalva and Lisa Dye, Jim Creek and Andrew Moralez.

Border Wait Time Studies - Crystal Jones, FHWA

FHWA has an on-going program to measure and improve border performance by developing a base-line of border travel times. The most important outcome of this process is travel time reliability: consistency or dependability in travel times measured from day to day, across different times of day and for different commodities. Actual travel time is less important for most users than inconsistent or unexpected delays. FHWA has piloted a border travel time study using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology on trucks for 25 interstates and five U.S./Canada border crossings.

Crystal introduced Rajat Rajbhandari from TTI who is the consultant working on the El Paso pilot study. In addition to the study, TTI has developed a web-based information system for the entire El Paso/Juarez region. This information system provides real-time Border Crossing Information as well as other regional transportation information. The web page also allows access to archived data. Information from the pilot study will eventually be uploaded into the webpage as well. The pilot study is using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, mainly because the technology was sufficiently advantageous for the required purpose, a large investment had already been made by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for their own uses and it made sense to build upon that effort. RFID is also currently being used by CBP in the FAST program. Two RFID reader locations are being set up, and the readers will run on solar power and transmit data back to a centralized location using wireless technology. TTI is investigating what the most effective methodology may be to disseminate the collected information, including the webpage mentioned above, real simple syndicate (RSS) e.g. through the traffic management center or through 511 information systems, through mobile applications (like SMS texting, Twitter, or proprietary applications). Currently, there are not enough RFID readers implemented to get great coverage. Also there is a difficulty in differentiating between FAST and non-FAST trucks, as the RFID tags don't contain that information. As for all things, the value of the data will need to be determined in order for more readers to be placed, and funds will have to be raised to maintain the system. The cost per month for the two readers and uploading of data to the web is approximately $1,000 per month. Information about the pilot can be found at http://ep.tamu.edu.

Crystal introduced Paul Belella of Delcan who is the consultant working on the San Diego pilot study. In San Diego, GPS was selected because the carriers supported use of GPS, the use of GPS is non-invasive and does not require infrastructure to be placed on ground- or pole-mounted locations, and GPS can provide multiple measurement points, something that was important to the stakeholders involved, and something important for the Otay Mesa deployment site, which has many different lanes. The purpose of the pilot was to gather a year of baseline data using the technology and then to evaluate applicability of technology to support a real-time application. Delcan is working with Calmar who has contracted directly with carriers to use their GPS data. Currently two carriers (that are Customs Trade Partnership against Terrorism (CTPAT) certified) are participating, and approximately 290 trips per week (or 2% of traffic) are being measured. Calmar has not reported any cost for the GPS information at this time because they are intending to set up a nationwide data set. It is expected that there will be a cost associated with getting carriers to participate.

Discussion: SCT indicated that they will not be paying any costs for ITS equipment, as the SCT concessionaires for the new POE projects will be installing equipment and paying for it as part of their 30-year concession. POEs need to work as a system so it is important that border wait times are conveyed to users, either through a Traffic Management Center or through some other methodology.

Crystal motioned and the group accepted that the JWC continue to work on the pilot studies in El Paso and San Diego to evaluate the best solutions for the region.

The JWC will work with GSA and CBP, Mexican Customs and INDAABIN work to incorporate installation of technology, both hardware and software (for border wait times and other statistics) when they are planning and building new or refurbished POEs.

Pedro Orso-Delgado gave a status on the update on the Economic Impacts of Border Wait Time study for California and Baja California.

Esther Hitzfelder, TxDOT, gave a presentation on the Reynosa/Pharr border wait time study. The team will use RFID and will install four measurement points: the beginning of the queue in Mexico, at the CAPUFE toll plaza, just prior to the U.S. inspection compound, and at the exit of the state enforcement facility exit location into Pharr, Texas. Because nearly 50% of all trucks crossing at this location already have RFID tags, they should be able to get a good sample. System tests are scheduled for July/August with full data collection by August. Data will be stored by TTI. Of importance over the long-term is how the equipment will be maintained, how the pilot can be sustained over time, how other data can be integrated along with the collected data. Esther mentioned that SCT is in the process of implementing ITS in the Reynosa/Pharr area, and that TxDOT will be expanding their data collection to the Laredo area, perhaps using Bluetooth technology. SCT expressed their interest in having TxDOT measure wait times in the Brownsville area, which is not currently scheduled for a wait time measurement study. SCT requested that TxDOT negotiate with SCT not CAPUFE regarding the installation equipment on SCT right of way.

Marisa Walker from ADOT discussed their proposal for a Border Wait Time Peer Exchange. The idea of this peer exchange would be to gather all pilot study participants and others interested in wait time measurement in one place to discuss information gathering, storage, maintenance and other pertinent issues. A Border Wait Time Peer Exchange meeting will be included as part of the 2010-2012 work plan.

Efforts on Regional Border Master Plans - Esther Hitzfelder, TxDOT, Rudy Perez, ADOT, Pedro Orso-Delgado, Caltrans

Esther reported on TxDOT's efforts underway to initiate work on regional border master plans. The Office of International Relations has had several meetings with the TxDOT District Engineers and their staff to describe the process. TxDOT has received the funding to move ahead, and will be beginning the process in the Laredo District first. Melissa Montemayor of the Laredo district will be coordinating the effort there and there will be a meeting of the stakeholder study team in July. The study will have similar goals as the California-Baja California study. Phase one of the study will be to achieve stakeholder buy-in to the process and Melissa, Vicente Saint Martin and Juan Carlos Gastelum will work to develop consensus. Phase two of the study will be to follow through with the rest of the tasks as outlined. They hope that the data they need to gather is available. They will be using the DELPHI hands-on voting technique for developing consensus in a manner where all participants have an equal voice. Since the Border Master Plan concept is already a JWC work plan item, both U.S. federal government agencies and Mexican federal government agencies are on-board. If TxDOT encounters any difficulties as it moves through the process, it will come back to the JWC for assistance.

The El Paso region is requesting a much more comprehensive plan than suggested by the California/Baja California study or by Laredo. TxDOT is in the process of defining a border master plan process that can fit into a larger study, defining who would be providing funding for what portions of the study and what the relation between the pieces would be. New Mexico will also be participating in the El Paso Border Master Plan study. TxDOT and NMDOT are currently reviewing the draft scope of work.

TxDOT intends to also develop a Border Master Plan for the Lower Rio Grande Region but they are just entering into preliminary discussions with this group.

Rudy provided a brief update of ADOT's progress on their Border Master Plan efforts. State Planning and Research (SPR) funds will be used for the project, and the ADOT SPR work plan for 2010 includes the border master plan project. Work will commence on Arizona's effort October 1, 2009.

Pedro indicated that it is now time to update the California-Baja California Border Master Plan. The update is expected to cost $140,000 and will be part of a regularly scheduled on-going cycle of updates in order to ensure that the plan stays relevant. Some of the projects are shifting on the priority lists.

SCT asked how promoter sponsored projects are included in the updates, because there are two new Mexican proposals, the Cross-Border Airport Terminal and expansion of Calexico East/Mexicali II. Caltrans responded that all projects are included, but that only projects that have sufficient data are able to be ranked and evaluated.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Pilot Project at Northern Mexican Border and Border Information Flow Architecture - Juan José Erazo - SCT, Matt Schiemer - Gannett Fleming and Crystal Jones, FHWA

Juan José introduced Matt who is working on an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) contracts for SCT for several regions in Mexico. Of the 8 regional areas (Matamoros/Brownsville, Reynosa/Pharr, San Diego/Tijuana, Mexicali/Calexico (including San Luis I and II), Nogales/Nogales, El Paso/Juarez, Laredo/Laredo, Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras), work is underway in the Northeast region, in Chihuahua/Juarez and Tijuana. Work is expected to commence soon for the Nogales region, followed by the others. SCT identified for implementation of JWC tools to facilitate flow throughout a region.

Matt outlined the study's goals: to improve safety, improve traffic flow and mobility, and improve traveler comfort and satisfaction, and then to select an ITS system that could achieve these goals. Some typical components for the system would be cameras, changeable message signs, information kiosks, emergency services, web information, etc. Currently, the consultant is developing a concept of operations and some functional requirements for the system. Information on the system, including route speed and travel time information will be available via the internet and also at traveler kiosks along the routes.

The system will be divided into sections and individual concessionaires will bid on the sections and then be responsible for central monitoring and maintenance of the section. A master software system will be developed for all sections. The concessions will be 30-yr concessions and will include the ITS system along with construction and maintenance of the roadways. If the facilities aren't maintained to agreed- upon standards, for response times, traveler information, etc. the concessionaires will be subject to penalties.

Deployment will begin in Tamaulipas and Nuevo León with implementation of ITS on the toll roads (Autopistas de Cuota) in Nuevo León - Monterrey to Nuevo León, Monterrey to Reynosa and Monterrey to Matamoros. The first two sections now will go out to bid on October 20, 2009, and work will begin on the systems by March 2010 with full operation expected by April 2010. Matt is requesting that teleconferences be scheduled in the next two weeks with TxDOT to ensure that whatever requirements are necessary for the future Border Information Flow Architecture (BIFA) can be incorporated into the design packages that are being completed immediately.

The next deployment will take place in the Chihuahua/Juarez region and coordination between the BIFA and the SCT project will also be needed with TxDOT for that location. The JWC will facilitate the ITS coordination calls to take place not more than two weeks from this meeting. Coordination calls will include discussions on short term requirements for SCT's ITS projects to include determining how to install readers and other equipment on TXDOT right of way.

Matt is working on developing an agenda for further BIFA coordination which will include defining the region, identifying stakeholders, identifying projects of interest. Desired information includes border crossings, travel times, incidents, events, a review of existing information sharing and then technical discussions. The regions of interest for BIFA are McAllen, Brownsville, Laredo, and El Paso which will include TxDOT/BIFA/SCT/NMDOT coordination (El Paso only), and then San Diego, which will require Caltrans/BIFA/SCT coordination. Coordination with ADOT will also take place but on a later time frame.

The Tijuana SCT concession project is a little bit different and involves the development of a concept of operations for a regional traffic management center (TMC) in a 120-day time frame. The TMC will collect information on both commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles. Matt will be in Tijuana the week of July 20 to work on this project and will have a coordination meeting with Caltrans at that time. The system in this region is expected to be operational by early 2011.

Binational Transportation Planning Study -Esther Hitzfelder, TxDOT

This is a new study, funded through TxDOT that is focusing on the process for infrastructure planning in Mexico. The study is focusing on the framework for planning and also on the implementation of those plans, addresses funding sources and provides a list of contacts for future use. The consultant, Texas Transportation Institute, selected specific project case studies to evaluate, focusing on projects that affect Texas transportation, and that are illustrative of the Mexican process in general. They selected six case studies: three roadways and three Ports of Entry. Work is underway and the final report will be ready in 8 months or so. Esther expects that a presentation covering the final report will be ready by the next JWC meeting.

July 15, 2009 - Joint Working Committee Meeting-Joint Session

At the last JWC meeting, the JWC agreed to begin to revise the JWC MOU to formally include other federal agencies and to better emphasize JWC priorities. Agencies that are currently being considered for possible incorporation are INDAABIN, GSA, CBP, Aduana, SEMARNAT, EPA, Department of Commerce and Economia. The original signers of the MOU were the Secretaries of DOT and SCT with other members named only. It may be possible to include each member agency by name but not have all sign the document; this is preferable as the logistics of getting 8 federal agency secretaries to sign is difficult at best. The JWC agreed that Sylvia, Lisa, Juan Jose and Manny would work to come up with a draft MOU by the beginning of August and send back to the entire group for review. The MOU would include wording about border security and would include the new members.

Work plan items identified for the 2010-2012 period include: Border Wait Times Studies and Peer Exchange, Regional Border Master Plans, Analysis of how to use wait time data and how to disseminate it, U.S. 95 Binational Corridor Study (San Luis, AZ), the greening the border efforts conference, transportation modeling peer exchange (Data Dogs), BIFA/ITS coordination (including peer exchange data base for license plates and other data of interest), analysis between wait times and emissions, a corridor and freight coordination meeting, application of the California Economic Impact of Border Wait Times to other locations, and evaluation of future border projects with innovative ideas (e.g. freight shuttle).

Discussion: Pedro suggested that each state develop a white paper/briefing paper on how the Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program helped them over the life of SAFETEA-LU. Rudy suggested that the paper include any positive economic impacts from expenditure of the funds. California committed to developing a template for the white paper that other states could use to develop their white papers.

Other suggestions for addition to the work plan include a safety component, an activity specific to commercial vehicle safety inspections (Sylvia will work with Dom to identify exact topic).

Any other suggestions should be submitted to Juan Jose and Sylvia via email for possible inclusion into the 2010-2012 work plan. The 2010-2012 work plan will be finalized at the next JWC meeting.

Border Governors' Conference - Border Crossings Worktable - Luis Treviño - CODEFRONT

Nuevo León and Arizona were selected as the Border Crossing Work Table co-chairs at the last Border Governors' Conference (BGC) meeting in Hollywood, CA in August 2008. The BCG has met since 1980, with participation by State DOTs since 1996. The BGC is divided into different work tables. The Border Crossing Work Table (including logistics) develops recommendations on border crossings that are then included in a Joint Declaration that is signed by all 10 governors.

The next meeting will be held in Monterrey, Nuevo León on September 2, 3 and 4, 2009. The focus on the meeting will be the development of a binational regional plan for 2020. The binational region consists of 300 km north and south of the international boundary line within the 10 border states. COLEF and the Woodrow Wilson Center are working on the plan which will be presented in Monterrey. Individual work table invitations will be issued soon (Mexican agencies will invite Mexican participants, and U.S. agencies will invite U.S. participants). The Border Crossings and Logistics work table is working on four recommendations that will be included in this year's Joint Declaration.

Land Border Ports of Entry Modernization and Staffing - Dennis Counihan and Andy Brinton, CBP

Dennis gave an overview of CBP's Mission and Operations and how the Land Ports of Entry (LPOEs) fit into that mission. Between 2007 and 2008, CBP completed the first round of Strategic Resource Assessments (SRA) which identified and prioritized facility requirements and survey of future needs. According to the SRAs more than $6 billion dollars in capital improvements is needed to upgrade the existing system, not including any funding for new POEs. This would amount to an investment of $600 million a year for the next ten years just to meet expected need for existing facilities, or $300 million a year for the next 20 years just to meet the expected need. Both CBP ($420 million) and GSA ($300 million) received ARRA funds, which will help achieve the modernization goal. CBP has developed a Port Modernization Program Management Office which is coordinating the work for both the ARRA and modernization projects. Southern border projects that received funds under ARRA (for both GSA and CBP) are Otay Mesa, CA, Nogales West/Mariposa, AZ, Columbus and Antelope Well, NM and Los Ebanos and Amistad Dam, TX.

A new three-year round of SRAs has begun for the LPOEs that will focus on recommendations that can be executed in short-, mid- and long-time frames. The SRA process will also expand to air and sea ports. The SRAs will help CBP plan, budget, and execute facility investments objectively and fairly. The modernization program will include recommendations from the SRA process as well as expediting project delivery, and improving quality and performance allow CBP to be more flexible.

Andy gave an overview of CBP staffing along the southwest border showing statistics of staffing levels increasing 13.5% since FY2006 (20,000 officers nationwide). One third of the staffing budget comes from fees, which is good when demand is high, but not so good when demand is low. 85% of CBP's overall budget is staffing, and while CBP does not expect to get significant increases in funding for staff for the next few years, they remain committed to training and hiring staff as much as they can. He gave an update of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) compliance at the southern border and in San Diego specially. He also summarized the CBP collected wait times at Otay Mesa cargo for both FAST and non-FAST shipments showing that wait times have improved in the last two years (a time period when volumes were also decreasing). Wait times are also down for passenger vehicles. Some traffic enhancements are expected in the San Diego region including additional stacked booths and feeder lanes that will serve traffic now and during future construction in this region. Also the San Diego field office is allowing passenger vehicles to utilize cargo lanes during peak periods on weekends to great effect.

Discussion: Have there been fewer passenger vehicles due to WHTI? Passenger vehicle volumes are lower but not due to WHTI, it is more probably attributable to changes in tourism due to economy/crime. Why does expanding hours of operation not work to alleviate queues? Historically, customs brokers did not want to extend their hours of operation. Also, manufacturers have said they are reluctant to re-tool entire factories/processes for temporary changes in hours of operation. What does CBP think about the expansion of hours of operation request for Tecate? CBP has evaluated that particular request several times in the past and has not found the supporting data to change the hours of operation; however, they are always willing to re-evaluate any new request. Pedro mentioned that he was proud to have such strong partners in CBP to work on infrastructure, crossing times and operational issues to make the region better. Crystal asked for data from Andy to use to validate the GPS data from the border wait times study in San Diego. Andy will work with Crystal to provide the information.

GSA/INDAABIN Projects Requiring Transportation Infrastructure - Dan Voll and Mike Clardy - GSA

Dan Voll gave a port by port analysis for the Arizona/California portion of the southern border. He covered the San Ysidro, Otay Mesa Expansion, Otay Mesa East, Calexico West, San Luis I and II, Lukeville and Douglas. Ramon Riesgo provided an overview of coordination with Mexico on these projects. Dan expressed thanks to the San Diego/Tijuana Border Liaison Mechanism (BLM) Port Working Groups Technical Commissions for aiding so much in coordination and is working to replicate the process in Arizona. The potential date of the first Arizona BLM is sometime in September. Rudy Perez expressed some concern about GSA's current design for San Luis I and will continue to work with GSA on that project. Mike Clardy gave a port by port analysis for the New Mexico/Texas portion of the southern border. He covered Columbus, Santa Teresa, Bridge of the Americas, Guadalupe/Tornillo, World Trade, McAllen/Reynosa (Anzalduas), Donna and Progreso. GSA has requested funds for Columbus, Laredo I and Brownsville Gateway Bridge for FY 2011 and funds for McAllen/Hidalgo and Laredo II for FY 2012.

Discussion: With regard to operation dates in the GSA presentation in general, do these also indicate operation dates for CBP? Or does that take additional time? No, the GSA operational dates are operational dates for the whole port of entry for all agencies. SCT is concerned about the actual opening dates for San Luis II, Anzalduas and Donna. The best way to solidify actual schedules is through the diplomatic note process.

Planning Subcommittee of the Intersecretarial Group for Bridges and Border Crossings - Sean Cazares - SRE

The Intersecretarial Group for Bridges and Border Crossings (Grupo Intersectretarial de Puentes y Cruces Fronterizos) is the national level group where Mexican federal agencies meet to develop a common position with regard to POEs. The group discusses such issues as negotiation, construction, operation and maintenance of POEs and the services provided at the POEs. They also evaluate and approve proposed new POEs and work to implement those same projects once they are approved. In the last few years the group has served to consolidate agreements between state, local and federal governments on actions that benefit border communities in both nations. This group then meets with its U.S. counterparts at the Binational Bridges and Border Crossings Group. The 39th session was held in February 2009 in Barrancas del Cobre, Chihuahua and a Texas regional meeting was held in June 2009 in Brownsville.

The Intersecretarial Group meets on an as-needed basis as many times per year as required to address specific issues. Agreements reached at the national level are then disseminated via regional meetings to discuss specific border projects. Items of note:

• There are currently three projects under construction, and the binational schedules are aligning fairly well (San Luis II, Anzalduas, Donna)
• There are several upcoming projects of interest: The reconstruction on San Ysidro/Puerta Mexico and El Chaparral, San Diego/Tijuana Cross-border airport, Nogales III, Progreso, Brownsville West Rail project.
• There may be a potential Presidential opening of the San Luis II project in October.

Ongoing issues and proposals for consideration by this group include:

• Development of a clear priority list for projects - expansion of the Baja California/California regional master plan to other regions.
• Support for and expansion of SENTRI and FAST programs
• Secured funding strategies for border crossing projects
• Increased utilization of NADBANK
• Continued need for full staffing of POEs in both countries.
• Opening of border for commercial vehicles as agreed to in NAFTA.

Discussion: Juan Jose wanted to reiterate that SRE, through its work with the Grupo Intersecretarial, is the only spokesman for the Government of Mexico on border projects. The group also serves as a technical support for the Binational Bridges and Border Crossings Group (along with the JWC as a whole). SCT is pleased about the progress of the many projects and is receiving positive motivation to produce more projects, including modernization of existing POEs, construction of new POEs and libramientos. Both the Grupo Intersecretarial and the JWC work to develop the entire portfolio of border projects and the full participation of all the federal agencies and states in these efforts helps make development at the border smooth and efficient.

Strategic Logistical Infrastructure Development Study for the Northeast Region of Mexico (FIDENOR-ESTE) - Juan Jose Erazo, SCT and Marcos Noguerón, Cal Y Mayor

Juan Jose introduced Marcos to provide a summary of this multi-state initiative. Marcos explained that FIDENOR-ESTE is a group of 5 northeast states: Durango, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas (4 of which that have a border with Texas). These states joined together to work on regional planning, and the outcome of this agreement is a development plan for logistics and infrastructure. The five respective governors have now signed off on the plan and are going to be working as a block to get funding from the Mexican federal government for these strategic projects. The region is seeking to build on its industrial strength and growth since NAFTA, and is well positioned with over 50% of the land border area with the United States. They want to modernize multi-modal transportation, improve POE operation and construct new multi-modal infrastructure. In order to maximize growth, the region's links with Asia (rail connectivity and highway network) will need to be improved. In order to do this specialized infrastructure for logistics will need to be developed. Over 80 projects were identified including: better railroad capacity, uniformity of license plates for commercial vehicles, secure commercial corridors with safety, electronic seals, etc. The region is working with the FONADIN (Fondo Nacional de Infraestructura) to receive funding. They are also looking for ways to build upon existing efforts by others, such as partnering with SCT on their regional ITS program for secure corridors. Marcos then used the Mazatlan-Matamoros corridor as an example, showing different component projects including modernization of the seaport at Mazatlan, development of an intermodal center in Durango and development of roadways/railways in Tamaulipas. The study, in addition to providing a compendium of projects also gathered a lot of information (including GIS information) for the five participant states and this information, is available for use by the JWC upon request.

Discussion: Arizona is conducting a study to determine the role of the State relative to Asian trade flows through the proposed Punta Colonet Port. SCT is looking forward to working with FIDENOR-ESTE and other regional groups as they proceed forward with their own studies. Did this study consider Punta Colonet (Baja California)? No, it is not likely that that port would particularly affect the FINENOR-ESTE group, as the Port of Mazatlan is much more geographically accessible to the region. The Punta Colonet project remains a planned project but given the downturn of the economy, its likely start date has been pushed off to more prosperous economic times.

Summary of Commitments and Agreements

Sylvia Grijalva, FHWA, and Juan José Erazo, SCT, summarized the commitments and agreements reached at the current meeting. The JWC agreed with the Commitments and Agreements as read (shown in this document in red).

All PowerPoint files presented at the JWC meeting will be posted to http://www.borderplanning.fhwa.dot.gov/filemanager. The password is jwcmeeting

Location and Date Next Meeting
The next JWC meeting will be held in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico on February 23-24, 2010 with the U.S. only and Mexico only meetings taking place on the evening of Monday February 22nd.

Concluding Remarks

José San Martín, SCT, concluded the meeting by discussing the success and longevity of the JWC. Part of the reason SCT has such a strong infrastructure program at the border is due to success of the JWC and its work products. The Mexican federal government is investing heavily in infrastructure, especially transportation infrastructure to stimulate the Mexican economy both in terms of jobs and in the economies of better systems themselves. More than $5 billion is programmed for FY2009. Projects are underway in Reynosa/Pharr, Veteran's Bridge/Los Tomates, the Brownsville & Matamoros rail project, and the modernization concession package for the northeast. Other concession packages will soon be underway in the Pacific Northwest (Mexicali-Tijuana and Culiacan-Mazatlan) and in the north gulf region (Tampico-Matamoros and Tuxpan). The JWC has become the think-tank for border transportation projects, and importantly is a multi-disciplinary group where all work on one goal "development of the border" whether that be infrastructure, security, efficiency, etc. Now in the face of the world financial markets crisis, this group is even more relevant to ensure that funds that are utilized are used wisely.

Jill Hochman, FHWA, concurred with Jose's comments about the validity of the group and indicated that the JWC is the best forum for coordinated project planning for the international border. She noted that twelve new topics were put forth for the 2010-2102 work plan. This is an ambitious amount of work, but if any group can achieve such goals, the JWC can. Finally, Jill mentioned that the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has put forth an 18-month extension of the present Transportation Authorizing bill (SAFETEA-LU) in addition to competing renewing legislation. It will be an interesting period to watch for potential transportation and transportation for the border funding.

Then José and Jill thanked the attendees and indicated that the level of participation in the JWC shows to them that there is sustained and continuing interest in the work of the group. They thanked the State of New Mexico for being their hosts and for the coordination and staff support that they provided for the meeting. They also thanked the translators.