The Calexico West Port of Entry (formerly known simply as the Calexico Port of Entry, and sometimes called the "Downtown" port of entry) is one of two ports of entry in the

Imperial Valley The Imperial Valley ( or ''Valle Imperial'') of Southern California lies in Imperial and Riverside counties, with an urban area centered on the city of El Centro. The Valley is bordered by the Colorado River to the east and, in part, the S ...

area of California. It is located in the business center of the

Calexico Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Dieg ...

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the States of Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California. The city, which is the seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali, Cale ...

metropolitan area that is divided by an international boundary. This crossing has easy access north to

Interstate 8 Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with I-10, ...

via

California State Route 111 State Route 111 (SR 111) is a state highway in the southeastern part of U.S. state of California. It is a north-south route serving the Imperial Valley, the eastern shore of the Salton Sea, and the Coachella Valley. Its southern terminus is at I ...

Mexican Federal Highway 5 Federal Highway 5 (, Fed. 5) is a toll-free part of the federal highways corridors (), and follows the northeast length of the state of Baja California from the US-Mexico border in Mexicali to the junction with Fed. 1. The highway is insid ...

then begins its journey to the south. The

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...

is currently implementing a multi-year facility upgrade that will dramatically change the appearance and throughput of the border crossing.

History

There has been a border crossing at Calexico since the late 19th century. The area grew substantially when irrigation converted the barren

into fertile agricultural land. Irrigation happened as a direct result of a huge flood (combined with topsoil) in 1906 when the Colorado River burst its channel due to the California Development Company's poor engineering. Enter George Chaffey and his Imperial Land Company who solved the flood problem and laid out the towns of Calexico, El Centro, Imperial, and Mexicali. So with his work he was allowed to name the valley as the Imperial Valley. The historic border inspection station on Heffernan Avenue was built in 1933. It was listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1992, and remains today as US government office space. In 1974, a new port of entry was built two blocks to the west, adjacent to the international rail crossing. In 2018, a new port of entry was opened next to the New River with modern installations, but for now it's used for vehicles, the pedestrian port hasn't changed, however, there are plans to modernize the pedestrian port that includes use the old building of the first port of entry for a temporary pedestrian port to rebuild a new one.

References

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External links

Calexico West Port of Entry
at the

History

References

External links

See also