Construction on the Border Patrol's $1.5 million interim checkpoint on Interstate 19 north of Tubac has begun and is expected to be complete by early April.
Work by Phoenix-based MRM Construction Services Inc. kicked off earlier this month and is expected to last for three months, said Omar Candelaria, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.
The project will include a new pre-engineered, lighted canopy structure, paving for a construction detour and widening the existing interstate. The facility also will have a modular building, lighting, latrines, a portable supply of water and portable electrical supplies.
The facility will be 25 1/2 miles north of the border between the Agua Linda and Chavez Siding exits. That's about one-third of a mile south of an overpass where the Border Patrol has been operating a makeshift, fixed checkpoint since November 2006.
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While the construction may impact traffic flow, the Border Patrol has said that southbound lanes will not be affected and that the northbound lanes will be affected only when the canopy is installed. When that will happen is unknown, Candelaria said.
Construction is also expected to be shut down completely between Feb. 7 and 17 to avoid disruption of the Tubac Festival of the Arts Feb. 10-14.
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DID YOU KNOW
The Border Patrol operates 32 permanent checkpoints across the Southwestern border but none in the agency's Tucson Sector, which stretches from New Mexico to the Yuma County line. From 1999 to 2006, Congress withheld funding for permanent inspection stations in the Tucson Sector because of a rule included in appropriations for the agency by now-retired Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz. From 2002 to 2006, Kolbe also included language requiring that the stations be moved every seven or 14 days. He believed the surprise factor of temporary checkpoints made them more effective. The requirement was omitted from the fiscal 2007 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. Since then, the agency has been operating a non-roving checkpoint at kilometer post 42, north of Tubac.
Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com
