Calexico Police Chief warns traffic into Mexico will get worse
Chief Gonzalo Gerardo says government rejected appeal for nighttime construction - News 11's Wiley Jawhary reports
CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Calexico's Police Chief Gonzalo Gerardo says residents should avoid travel into Mexico for the next two days due to additional construction.
Gerardo says that the U.S. General Services Administration is going to pour 1,600 cubic feet of cement on the six new lanes going into the port of entry.
"I tried to stop it in a way that we can do it, later on, maybe start at 10 at night, my traffic controllers have been working until on in the morning," he said.
Gerardo says he is advising residents to avoid going into Mexico between the hours of 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Additionally Gerardo says that this is also putting a financial strain on the city of Calexico.
"It is affecting my budget, because my budget for traffic control is at $600,000 for the whole year, if this continues, by February or March, I will be done with our budget, and we are not getting any help," he said.
Congressman Juan Vargas and the City of Calexico have been in close contact to try and minimize traffic.
Gerardo adds that road rage incidents are becoming more frequent.
"We have seen incidents of people crashing, trying to get into line, by the time we get there they are too far down the line," he said.
Just last week, Imperial County Supervisor Jesus Escobar suggested residents reach out to their state representatives to raise concern over the issue in Washington.
I reached out to the U.S General Services Administration, although they declined an interview they referred me to a previous release, and said most of their construction work is between the hours of 10 p.m. - 6 a.m.
“We could have done it on a Sunday or Monday, we could have done it then on less traffic, we could have designated a lane for them and made it happen, but they chose one of the roughest days of traffic,” Chief Gerardo said.
The Calexico Police Department says it will be unable to designate a special lane for concrete trucks. Chief Gerardo says they’re going to have to wait in traffic like everyone else.
This will affect all southbound lanes for the next few days.
