Cross Border Xpress

File:View of CBX bridge from parking lot on U.S. side.jpg

The CBX bridge can only be used by passengers with boarding passes for flights into or out of Tijuana International Airport. Departing passengers can access the bridge up to 24 hours before their flight, while arriving passengers have two hours after landing to cross into the U.S.{{cite web | url=https://www.crossborderxpress.com/en/requirements | title=Requirements Cross Border Xpress }}

{{As of|2024}}, the fee to use the bridge varies by travel season, with one-way prices ranging from {{US$|20 to 30|link=yes}}. Discounts are available for families, military, commuters and those purchasing a round-trip.

On the U.S. side of the bridge is a terminal with ticket counters and kiosks for paying bridge access fees, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility to process passengers arriving from Mexico, car rental counters, taxi stands, shuttle bus services and 900 paid parking spaces.

On the Mexican side of the bridge, ticket counters and kiosks for paying bridge access fees are located within the Tijuana International Airport baggage claim area and Mexican immigration and customs facilities.

{{For|the complete history of the plans and negotiations of the cross-border terminal at Tijuana Airport|History of the Cross Border Xpress}}

File:Image 1- Mexicana de Aviacion Tijuana cross-border terminal proposal 1990.jpg

The first discussion of a cross-border terminal was part of a proposal initiated by Mexico's Minister of Public Works (Secretario de Obras Publicas) Gilberto Valenzuela Ezquerro who under Mexico's President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1964–1970) was directed to modernize Mexico's airports and transportation system. In 1965, Gilberto Valenzuela approached then mayor of San Diego Frank Curran with a proposal to jointly develop a Tijuana-San Diego airport on Otay Mesa, but at the time, San Diego considered Otay Mesa too remote.{{cn|date=February 2025}} Gilberto Valenzuela Ezquerro then initiated the development of the Tijuana airport which was expanded from 128 hectares (316 acres) to 448 hectares (1107 acres) to accommodate a new terminal and runway.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

From 1965 until 1987, the concept of a cross-border terminal lay dormant until Dennis Conner America's Cup victory in Australia. Freddie Laker, who had pioneered low-fare commercial transatlantic routes and was the founder of Laker Airways, became interested in developing international commercial/charter flights through Mexico to service the projected passenger traffic for the America's Cup challenge in San Diego.{{cn|date=February 2025}} He met with Rodolfo Ramos Ortiz, who had introduced charter operations in Mexico in the 1970s and founded Aerounión and Aerocharter de México, S.A. de C.V. Negotiations failed but the concept of a cross-border terminal continued to evolve.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

File:Aero Charter-Nieders Tijuana cross-border terminal concept 1991a.jpgIn 1989, Ralph Nieders, who had been involved in the Freddie Laker discussions, made a formal proposal to Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V. in Mexico City. The proposal was accepted and a letter of intent drawn in 1990 for the acquisition of Martinez Ranch (parcel number APN 667-050-07) as the designated site for the cross-border terminal. The Mexicana de Aviación/Nieders image 1 shown in this section became the first of a series of plans/diagrams that were created to better promote the project. Contact was then made with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) whose plans for a "bi-national airport" had been undermined in November 1989, when the San Diego City Council lifted a building moratorium on Otay Mesa.{{cite news|last1=Bernstein|first1=Leonard|title=Council Lifts Building Ban at Brown Field : Airports: Decision probably takes airport on Otay Mesa out of contention as replacement site for crowded Lindbergh Field.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-11-15-me-1662-story.html|access-date=18 December 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 15, 1989}} SANDAG did not support the development of a cross-border terminal as it sought to again revive its efforts to create a bi-national airport on San Diego's Otay Mesa and Mexicana de Aviación opted not to pursue the project in January, 1991. As Mexicana de Aviación withdrew, in February 1991, Rodolfo Ramos Ortiz/Aerocharter de México looking at the Tijuana airport's potential for passenger and cargo operations to Japan and other Pacific destinations joined Ralph Nieders to continue promoting the cross-border terminal.{{cn|date=February 2025}} As shown by image 2, an updated rendering was then created showing a fully developed Tijuana airport and how its cargo and passengers would directly connect to San Diego's surface streets and freeway system.

In 1993, San Diego's efforts to develop a regional bi-national airport failed{{cite news|last1=Walker|first1=Lynne|title=Mexico vetoes TwinPorts stunned city officials to cancel Otay building ban|work=San Diego Union Tribune|date=October 2, 1993}} and a recession during that same period also caused the collapse of land values in Otay Mesa. The selected site for the Aerocharter cross-border terminal on the U.S. side was foreclosed. Efforts to build the cross-border terminal were then suspended.

In 1994, Mexico initiated its airport privatization program and the cross-border terminal was refloated by Gilberto Valenzuela Ezquerro and Ralph Nieders. The Tijuana airport became part of the Pacific Airport Group, known as GAP (Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico) consisting of 12 airports with 15 Million Annual Passengers and headquartered in Guadalajara. In 1999, a Spanish consortium won the concession and committed to developing the cross-border terminal but in August 2001, in an effort to reduce operating costs, canceled the project and Ralph Nieders resigned as GAP's cross-border project manager. The Tijuana cross-border terminal project then reverted to Mexico's airport authority Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (ASA) and was privately promoted by Gilberto Valenzuela and Ralph Nieders.{{cite news|last1=Millman|first1=Joel|title=San Diego's Gateway to the World May Be Tijuana|work=Wall Street Journal|date=August 1, 2001}}

In 2006, Controladora Mexicana de Aeropuertos S.A. de C.V.{{cite news|title=Holdinmex se desprende de su parte en aeropuertos|url=http://www.infobae.com/2006/01/17/233494-holdinmex-se-desprende-su-parte-aeropuertos|access-date=3 July 2015|work=Infobae|date=17 January 2006}} headed by Eduardo Sanchez-Navarro Redo, Carlos Laviada Ocejo and his wife Laura Diez-Barroso Azcarraga replaced Holdinmex S.A. de C.V. as the Mexican strategic partner within AMP (Aeropuertos Mexicanos del Pacifico, S.A. de C.V.) and assumed control of the Pacific Airport Group (GAP). Gilberto Valenzuela Ezquerro contacted Eduardo Sanchez-Navarro Redo and arrangements were made for Christian Checa Levien, son-in-law of Laura Diez-Barroso Azcarraga de Laviada, to meet with Ralph Nieders to discuss the development of a cross-border terminal and land options. A private tour and meeting at San Diego International Airport was then arranged between Christian Checa and Ralph Nieders by Theodore Sexton of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority. The three potential crossing sites Martinez Ranch, Britannia Commerce Center and Martinez Trust were discussed. The cross-border terminal then became part of the strategic development of the Tijuana airport.{{cn|date=February 2025}} Land negotiations on Martinez Trust as well as Britannia Commerce Center failed. Samuel Zell of Equity International then became interested and his representative David Contis met with Christian Checa and Ralph Nieders. Land negotiations on Martinez Trust then followed and in 2007 negotiations on parcel APN 667-060-02 (Martinez Trust) were successfully completed. Otay-Tijuana Venture LLC was then created to develop and operate the Tijuana cross-border terminal.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

After a quarter century of negotiations and planning for a cross-border terminal, construction began at the Tijuana airport in October 2013{{cite news| url=http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/oct/08/construction-cross-border-airport-terminal-ground/ | work=KPBS | title=Construction On Airport Terminal Linking Tijuana To San Diego Is Off The Ground | date=October 8, 2013}} and work on the U.S. side began in June 2014.{{cite news | url=http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/Construction-underway-on-cross-border-airport-terminal-262458631.html | work=San Diego 6 | title=Construction underway on cross-border airport terminal | access-date=19 September 2014 | date=9 June 2014 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140613145020/http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/Construction-underway-on-cross-border-airport-terminal-262458631.html | archive-date=13 June 2014 }} The cross-border terminal was completed in December 2015. The project had an initial estimated cost of $78 million US dollars and a final completion cost of $120 million US dollars, funded by Mexican and U.S. private investors and Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico.{{cite news| url=http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/Sep/05/tijuana-airport-terminal-bridge-construction/ | work=San Diego Union Tribune | title=Cross-border airport bridge to link Tijuana with San Diego | date=September 5, 2013}} Building E of Tijuana's Terminal 1 was retrofitted to support the new bridge structure on the Mexican side. During the construction phase, a temporary border waiver between the U.S. and Mexico had to be issued by mutual legislation to allow U.S. construction cranes and U.S. fabricated steel bridge structural sections to cross the U.S.-Mexico boundary and be set over the six-lane Mexican Federal Highway 2.{{cite journal|last1=Donohue|first1=Ken|title=TIJUANA AIRPORT-Sitting right on the US/Mexico border, Tijuana Airport has evolved over the years to become a living example of what is possible when people and nations work together|journal=Airways Magazine|date=March 2017|url=https://airwaysmag.com/product/mar2017/|access-date=18 February 2017|archive-date=19 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219095133/https://airwaysmag.com/product/mar2017/|url-status=dead}}

The main contractor for the terminal was Turner Construction Company. The civil engineer was Latitude 33 Planning and Engineering. Structural engineers were Hope Amundson Structural Engineers and Kleinfelder. The electrical subcontractor was Bergelectric. The mechanical and plumbing subcontractor was Industrial Commercial Systems. The site work and management subcontractor was Hazard Construction Company.{{cite web|last1=Shaw|first1=Molly|last2=Colby|first2=Eric|title=Hazard Construction Company|url=https://www.usbuildersreview.com/case-studies/hazard-construction-company-molding-and-maintaining-heavy-civil-infrastructure-san/|website=www.usbuildersreview.com|access-date=6 January 2017|ref=2016}} Stantec Incorporated based in Alberta, Canada, was selected as the prime architect and facility designer with the late Ricardo Legorreta of Legorreta+Legorreta as the associate architect.

The Tijuana cross-border terminal was renamed the Cross Border Xpress (CBX) and opened to passenger service on December 9, 2015.[http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/08/toll-crossing-otay-mesa-tijuana-airport-border/ "Cross-border airport bridge to open in December", Sandra Dibble, San Diego Union-Tribune, August 8, 2015][http://www.latimes.com/travel/california/la-trb-tijuana-airport-bridge-to-san-diego-20151207-story.html "Pedestrian bridge opens", Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2015] However, the official opening ceremony did not take place until April 7, 2016.{{Cite web |url=https://mx.usembassy.gov/mexican-and-u-s-officials-inaugurate-cross-border-xpress-cbx-the-tijuana-airport-terminal-in-san-diego/ |title="Mexican and U.S. Officials Inaugurate Cross Border Xpress (CBX) – The Tijuana Airport Terminal – In San Diego", Website of the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=2017-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107222355/https://mx.usembassy.gov/mexican-and-u-s-officials-inaugurate-cross-border-xpress-cbx-the-tijuana-airport-terminal-in-san-diego/ |url-status=dead }} Within seven months of the facility's opening, 600,000 passengers had used the facility, with a single day record of 5,800 passengers.

For its design and innovation in the category of Airport and Ports, in April 2016 Engineering News-Report (ENR) gave the Otay-Tijuana Cross Border Xpress (CBX) its Global Award For Merit.{{cite web|title=ENR Announces 2016 Global Best Projects Winners|url=http://www.enr.com/blogs/13/post/39808-enr-announces-global-best-projects-winners|website=enr.com|publisher=ENR (Engineering News-Report)|access-date=18 February 2017|ref=July 6, 2016}} and in September 2016, awarded CBX the Airports/Transit Best Project in California.{{cite web|title=Airport/Transit Best Project - Otay-Tijuana Cross Border Xpress|url=http://www.enr.com/articles/40309-airporttransit-best-project---otay-tijuana-cross-border-xpress|website=enr.com|publisher=ENR (Engineering News-Record) California|access-date=18 February 2017|ref=September 27, 2016}}

In 2020, an additional restroom facility was added to the building and the duty-free area underwent a renovation completed by Delawie Architects and Turner Construction Company.{{cite web |title=Cross Border Xpress Expansion and Renovation |url=https://delawie.com/portfolio/cbx/ |website=Delawie.com |access-date=21 October 2020}}

Image:CBX building sign.jpg|CBX building sign

Image:CBX01.jpg|CBX terminal entrance

Image:CBX02.jpg|CBX passenger bridge corridor U.S.-Mexico

Image:Cross Border Xpress Plaque 1.jpg|Plaque at the CBX passenger bridge corridor indicating the Mexico–United States border.

Image:CBX patio.jpg|CBX patio

Image:CBX exit form terminal to to parking lot.jpg|CBX exit from terminal to parking lot

Image:31727455 pjoDmbmRBxX2zmnsdusNZ0zWizz6op52xWFv5Co1Dk8.jpg|Tijuana airport CBX bridge

Image:CBX03.jpg|Tijuana airport CBX passenger bridge

• History of the Cross Border Xpress

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{official|https://www.crossborderxpress.com/en/}}

{{commons}}

{{San Diego–Tijuana Border}}

Category:Mexico–United States border crossings

Category:Airports in Baja California

Category:Airports in San Diego

Category:Binational airports

Category:Buildings and structures in Tijuana

Category:Ricardo Legorreta buildings

Category:2015 establishments in California

Category:2015 establishments in Mexico

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 2015

Category:Tijuana International Airport