Official: Baja road may reopen by summer

By summer, Mexican officials hope to reopen a troubled but popular toll road that funnels tourists to Baja California’s burgeoning wine country, an official with the state government said this week.

A portion of the Tijuana-to-Ensenada Scenic Road south of Rosarito Beach collapsed toward the sea in late December. Segments of pavement slid hundreds of feet down the steep sandstone cliffs upon which the corridor was built in the 1960s. No injuries were reported.

The closure of that stretch of toll road — the busiest highway in Baja California — comes amid the region’s fledgling tourism recovery. Business and government leaders said they’re publicizing alternate routes, and are hoping to have a temporary fix completed within half a year.

Still, the scale of the infrastructure damage has officials contemplating a long-term solution that could include diverting the road away from the treacherous Salsipuedes stretch of highway about 10 miles north of Ensenada, where the collapse took place, said Mariano Escobedo, director international relations for the state government.

Before it closed, the toll road between Rosarito Beach and Ensenada handled an average of 8,000 vehicle trips per day, Escobedo said.

No details about repair plans or cost estimates were available this week, he said. Without ascribing blame, Escobedo also said the highway is owned and maintained by Mexico’s federal government.

“Natural causes” led to the collapse, he said, noting that a 4.6-magnitude earthquake on Dec. 19 south of Ensenada was likely a big contributor. He promised that repairs would start “as soon as possible,” though he couldn’t say whether sections of the road were still sinking.

Some are skeptical that an adequate fix, even a short-term one, can be made in six months. Others doubt the road can ever be safely reopened.

“Very frankly, that road should never have been built,” said Pat Abbott, a geology professor at San Diego State University who has studied the area in question.

Abbott said the decision to build along the fragile cliffs doomed the roadway. The seismic activity in that region doesn’t help, he said, but it wasn’t the main factor in the road’s deterioration.

Gravity was, he said.

Decades of repairs

Problems with the Salsipuedes stretch have long been known.

Crews have repaired the highway for 25 to 30 years because of frequent landslides, said Hugo Torres, owner of the iconic Rosarito Beach Hotel and Resort and former mayor of Rosarito Beach.

“We have gotten used to the problem,” Torres said.

While he’s hopeful the roadway can be rebuilt by the summer and fall tourism seasons, he’s skeptical that six months is enough time. “It’s a major problem. I don’t think they can rebuild it in the same location,” he said.

His hotel recently sent out emails to 50,000 past customers, letting them know that all roads south from the United States to Rosarito Beach are still open. Most of his guests use the toll road to reach the Guadalupe Valley, a wine and culinary destination that’s gaining international renown.

Alternate routes

There are ways to reach Ensenada and points south from the San Diego region, though at least one alternate route is experiencing heavy back-ups.

San Diegans can still take the northern portion of the toll road hugging the coast through Tijuana and Rosarito Beach. But drivers must then veer inland and take the old “free road” near the town of La Mision, about 18 miles south of Rosarito Beach. It is a longer route that winds through several small towns and ranchlands.

Because the free road is now much busier, Escobedo said the federal government has recommended that commercial trucks use the federal highway from Tecate to Ensenada.

And while the toll road is closed near La Mision to drivers headed to Ensenada, Escobedo said travelers headed to towns well north of the collapsed area — including Punta Piedra, La Salina and Bajamar — are allowed to continue driving on the toll road to reach their destinations.

Tourism impact

It may be too early to say how much the road’s closure has impacted regional tourism.

Torres said his hotel had no cancellations on New Year’s Eve. But he also said some Ensenada hotels lost anywhere from 3 percent to 7 percent of their guests during the holiday, likely due to the road closure.

Torres stressed that the road collapse presents “an image problem,” but that it can be overcome. He said his hotel plans to advertise in publications across Southern California that the hotel is accessible and open for business.

“I think the loyal customers will continue to drive down,” Torres said.

chris.nichols@utsandiego.com | (760) 529-4929 | Twitter@christhejourno