Ensenada toll road to reopen Sept. 15

A portion of the scenic Rosarito-Ensenada toll road that collapsed in a landslide last year is expected to reopen Sept. 15, Mexican transportation authorities confirmed Friday.

A 330-foot section of the road, Federal Mexican Highway 1D, collapsed in December. It had already been closed to through traffic due to cracking. The road is heavily traveled by tourists, and is widely used to transport produce, such as tomatoes, strawberries and seafood products, from Baja California to the U.S. border.

All four lanes of the coastal road will be open with no changes to the toll, said an official working in the office of CAPUFE transportation director Rosar María Castañeda Guadiana. Work will continue through the end of March, however, to prevent further water seepage, she said.

Since the closure last year, drivers have had access to the road’s northern 35-mile mile section that starts in Rosarito, but can only connect to Ensenada by using a 20-mile, two-lane inland road that veers off at La Mision. Carol Kramer, owner of the Discover Baja Travel Club, said the two-lane winding road adds about 10 minutes per trip.

Roberto Durazo, director of the Ensenada Economic Development Corp., said the Sept. 15 reopening of the road should help bring tourists back to Ensenada.

“People in Ensenada feel that the way that the highway is right now is not helping people from Tijuana and Southern California visit Ensanada,” he said. “People are coming but there’s a lot of people we assumed have stopped because of the highway situation.”