San Diego, California – After years of delays, bureaucratic stalls, and a project site that sat quiet far too long, the long-awaited Otay Mesa East Port of Entry has finally roared to life — and it began with a mountain of rubble.
Construction crews this month began what officials call the “crushing operation,” using excess concrete and debris hauled in from the San Diego Airport Terminal One renovation. Instead of sending the material to a landfill, the rubble is being ground down and recycled as the structural base for new buildings and roadways at the border crossing. For SANDAG, Caltrans, and the taxpayers footing the bill, it’s an unexpectedly elegant solution.
Maria Rodriguez Molina, SANDAG’s director of Mega Projects, said the timing couldn’t have been better. With Terminal One wrapping up its redevelopment, 100,000 cubic yards of concrete were available — and Otay Mesa East needed exactly that kind of fill…