By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.05.2008
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EL SASABE, MEXICO — Mexico's federal government is working to complete paving on a northern Sonora highway that will be the first quality roadway to lead from the tiny port of entry in Sasabe into Mexico.
The Sasabe port — Arizona's smallest and least-trafficked port — has been open since 1916 but has never become a heavily used port such as those in San Luis, Nogales and Douglas.
It's located in a remote, sparsely populated area, and there are no paved roads leading from the port into the interior of Mexico.
When finished, the 33.5-mile, two-lane highway between the border town of El Sasabe and Saric would give travelers an alternate route into and out of northwest Sonora without having to go through Nogales or Lukeville — both ports that sometimes have long waits. Paved roads lead out of Saric to Magdalena de Kino to the southeast or to Altar and Caborca to the southwest.
For Sonora, the route will increase security in an area heavily used by drug- and human-smugglers and connect El Sasabe and government services at Saric, said Felipe Rivas Castro, director of highway construction in Sonora for the Mexican federal government's Office of the Secretary of Communication and Transportation.
Since work began in June 2006, crews have finished 13.6 miles in two sections; 7.4 miles out of El Sasabe, and 6.2 miles leading into Saric, Rivas Castro said. They are scheduled to complete slightly more than 15 miles by the end of the year and hope to finish the remaining 18.5 miles by 2010 at the earliest, or 2012 at the latest, when Mexican President Felipe Calderón's term ends, Rivas Castro said.
The federal government has allotted 84.2 million pesos — or $8.17 million — for the first three years of work. It will take another $8 million to complete, Rivas Castro estimated.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials anticipate the completed highway will increase vehicle traffic through the Sasabe port significantly enough that they have already begun discussing keeping the port open 24 hours a day and adding lanes, said Brian Levin, Customs and Border Protection spokesman. Currently, the port is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and has one lane in and out.
"For those that are coming back and don't want to go to Nogales, it may prove an alternate route for them," Levin said.
Mexican officials hope that happens.
Attracting more U.S. tourism to the region was one of three principal reasons the government chose to spend money on the highway, Rivas Castro said. Officials hope the new road will attract more tourists through Sasabe and to the small towns of Tubutama, Átil and Oquitoa — all parts of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino's Mission Route.
But Rivas Castro also said the improved roadway is also expected to increase safety in a region heavily used by "dangerous" drug- and human-smugglers.
"It is a strategic highway to reinforce the security of the region," said Rivas Castro in Spanish. "It's a region in conflict due to the trafficking of drugs and people."
When finished, the road will be maintained and patrolled by Sonoran state officials, said Ramon Anduaga Verdugo of the Office of the Secretary of Communication and Transportation. It will not be a toll road, he said.
Before this project, the road was largely avoided by residents due its bad condition and remoteness. Some of the road still fits that description. The 18 miles in between the two finished sections remain a rough dirt road that, while passable for most vehicles, is a bumpy ride. As part of the project, 12 bridges will be built, Rivas Castro said.
"For us, it means we have access to a border region that has been forgotten," Rivas Castro said.
The road has already been a boon for Alfonso Garcia Noriega, who lives in Caborca but works in El Sasabe weekdays at the Super Coyote supermarket. He used to drive along a washboard dirt road that goes directly from El Sasabe to Altar. Now, he takes the partly-paved route through Saric when he heads to and from Caborca, he said.
"It's faster and easier on my truck," said Garcia Noriega in Spanish.
The new road also makes his family's trips to the United States easier. He and his family used to go through Nogales when they traveled to Arizona for shopping. That trip usually took about three to four hours depending on the line at the port, he said. Now, they can be at the Sasabe Port of Entry in less than two hours.
The best part: There's never a line at the sleepy Sasabe port.
"It's closer, and you spend less time at the port," said Garcia Noriega, who lives in Caborca with his wife and two children, a 13-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son.
Not everybody, however, is convinced the new paved road will generate more tourism through Sasabe. Alice Knagge, owner of the Sasabe Store and town administrator of Sasabe, Ariz., says the Mexican government would have been smarter to pave the dirt road that runs directly from El Sasabe to Altar.
The washboard dirt road she refers to is largely used by longtime residents of the area and vans carrying illegal immigrants from the popular staging town of Altar to the border. But it's a straight shot to Altar, about 12 miles shorter that the road through Saric.
"It just doesn't make sense that the road goes to Saric," said Knagge, who has owned the Sasabe Store since 1967. Justifying the decision based on trying to attract tourism to Saric, Tubutama, Átil and Oquitoa is a "poor excuse" for a decision that really came down to Saric having more political power than El Sasabe, she said.
"What is there to see in Saric and those little towns?" Knagge said. "They are just little Mexican towns. There is nothing to attract the tourists."
And, by choosing to pave the route through Saric, the government missed an opportunity to entice semitrailers through the Sasabe port, which would have brought more economic benefits, she said. Truck drivers won't change their routes from Nogales to Sasabe because the road is not a straight shot, Knagge said.
"They are not interested in looking around," Knagge said of truck drivers. "They are interested in getting from point A to point B with the least possible fuel they can use, especially now."
Customs and Border Protection officials say they, too, aren't expecting an increase in semi-trailers through the Sasabe port. Even though it will be paved, the road is windy and not conducive to trucks, Levin said.
Rivas Castro acknowledged that the road is shorter to Altar, but said it wouldn't have made as much sense because there are no towns along the route. The current project will benefit 21,664 residents in the towns of Saric, Tubutama, Átil, Altar, Oquitoa and Pitiquito, he said.
The more direct road to Altar is scheduled to be paved in the government's long-term plans, he said.
? Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or [email protected].
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.05.2008
advertisement
EL SASABE, MEXICO — Mexico's federal government is working to complete paving on a northern Sonora highway that will be the first quality roadway to lead from the tiny port of entry in Sasabe into Mexico.
The Sasabe port — Arizona's smallest and least-trafficked port — has been open since 1916 but has never become a heavily used port such as those in San Luis, Nogales and Douglas.
It's located in a remote, sparsely populated area, and there are no paved roads leading from the port into the interior of Mexico.
When finished, the 33.5-mile, two-lane highway between the border town of El Sasabe and Saric would give travelers an alternate route into and out of northwest Sonora without having to go through Nogales or Lukeville — both ports that sometimes have long waits. Paved roads lead out of Saric to Magdalena de Kino to the southeast or to Altar and Caborca to the southwest.
For Sonora, the route will increase security in an area heavily used by drug- and human-smugglers and connect El Sasabe and government services at Saric, said Felipe Rivas Castro, director of highway construction in Sonora for the Mexican federal government's Office of the Secretary of Communication and Transportation.
Since work began in June 2006, crews have finished 13.6 miles in two sections; 7.4 miles out of El Sasabe, and 6.2 miles leading into Saric, Rivas Castro said. They are scheduled to complete slightly more than 15 miles by the end of the year and hope to finish the remaining 18.5 miles by 2010 at the earliest, or 2012 at the latest, when Mexican President Felipe Calderón's term ends, Rivas Castro said.
The federal government has allotted 84.2 million pesos — or $8.17 million — for the first three years of work. It will take another $8 million to complete, Rivas Castro estimated.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials anticipate the completed highway will increase vehicle traffic through the Sasabe port significantly enough that they have already begun discussing keeping the port open 24 hours a day and adding lanes, said Brian Levin, Customs and Border Protection spokesman. Currently, the port is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and has one lane in and out.
"For those that are coming back and don't want to go to Nogales, it may prove an alternate route for them," Levin said.
Mexican officials hope that happens.
Attracting more U.S. tourism to the region was one of three principal reasons the government chose to spend money on the highway, Rivas Castro said. Officials hope the new road will attract more tourists through Sasabe and to the small towns of Tubutama, Átil and Oquitoa — all parts of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino's Mission Route.
But Rivas Castro also said the improved roadway is also expected to increase safety in a region heavily used by "dangerous" drug- and human-smugglers.
"It is a strategic highway to reinforce the security of the region," said Rivas Castro in Spanish. "It's a region in conflict due to the trafficking of drugs and people."
When finished, the road will be maintained and patrolled by Sonoran state officials, said Ramon Anduaga Verdugo of the Office of the Secretary of Communication and Transportation. It will not be a toll road, he said.
Before this project, the road was largely avoided by residents due its bad condition and remoteness. Some of the road still fits that description. The 18 miles in between the two finished sections remain a rough dirt road that, while passable for most vehicles, is a bumpy ride. As part of the project, 12 bridges will be built, Rivas Castro said.
"For us, it means we have access to a border region that has been forgotten," Rivas Castro said.
The road has already been a boon for Alfonso Garcia Noriega, who lives in Caborca but works in El Sasabe weekdays at the Super Coyote supermarket. He used to drive along a washboard dirt road that goes directly from El Sasabe to Altar. Now, he takes the partly-paved route through Saric when he heads to and from Caborca, he said.
"It's faster and easier on my truck," said Garcia Noriega in Spanish.
The new road also makes his family's trips to the United States easier. He and his family used to go through Nogales when they traveled to Arizona for shopping. That trip usually took about three to four hours depending on the line at the port, he said. Now, they can be at the Sasabe Port of Entry in less than two hours.
The best part: There's never a line at the sleepy Sasabe port.
"It's closer, and you spend less time at the port," said Garcia Noriega, who lives in Caborca with his wife and two children, a 13-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son.
Not everybody, however, is convinced the new paved road will generate more tourism through Sasabe. Alice Knagge, owner of the Sasabe Store and town administrator of Sasabe, Ariz., says the Mexican government would have been smarter to pave the dirt road that runs directly from El Sasabe to Altar.
The washboard dirt road she refers to is largely used by longtime residents of the area and vans carrying illegal immigrants from the popular staging town of Altar to the border. But it's a straight shot to Altar, about 12 miles shorter that the road through Saric.
"It just doesn't make sense that the road goes to Saric," said Knagge, who has owned the Sasabe Store since 1967. Justifying the decision based on trying to attract tourism to Saric, Tubutama, Átil and Oquitoa is a "poor excuse" for a decision that really came down to Saric having more political power than El Sasabe, she said.
"What is there to see in Saric and those little towns?" Knagge said. "They are just little Mexican towns. There is nothing to attract the tourists."
And, by choosing to pave the route through Saric, the government missed an opportunity to entice semitrailers through the Sasabe port, which would have brought more economic benefits, she said. Truck drivers won't change their routes from Nogales to Sasabe because the road is not a straight shot, Knagge said.
"They are not interested in looking around," Knagge said of truck drivers. "They are interested in getting from point A to point B with the least possible fuel they can use, especially now."
Customs and Border Protection officials say they, too, aren't expecting an increase in semi-trailers through the Sasabe port. Even though it will be paved, the road is windy and not conducive to trucks, Levin said.
Rivas Castro acknowledged that the road is shorter to Altar, but said it wouldn't have made as much sense because there are no towns along the route. The current project will benefit 21,664 residents in the towns of Saric, Tubutama, Átil, Altar, Oquitoa and Pitiquito, he said.
The more direct road to Altar is scheduled to be paved in the government's long-term plans, he said.
? Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or [email protected].
