New and improved Tecate checkpoint ready to handle more traffic

New and improved Tecate checkpoint ready to handle more traffic    The U.S. government officially reopened the border station at Tecate, Mexico, near San Diego March 11 after completing the first phase of a three-year, $18.8 million remodeling project to expand and modernize the 73-year-old facility.
   The new Customs and Border Protection compound will have five times as much space as before and high-tech security tools such as license plate readers, drive-through radiation detectors and gamma ray scanning machines for processing vehicles, passengers and cargo.
   “The project improves the safety of our officers and the public by separating the various modes of transportation such as passenger cars, trucks and pedestrians which up until now have had to share the existing small facility,” said Port Director Paul Henning, in a statement.
   The rebuilt port began processing commercial trucks March 11. Passenger vehicles, pedestrians and empty commercial trucks began using the facility in February.