Exemplary Human Environment Initiatives (EHEI)

Awarding transportation projects that create or improve conditions for human activities.

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Exemplary Human Environment Initiatives (EHEI)

Interstate 5/International Friendship Plaza

The San Ysidro Border Crossing serves as a gateway between California and Mexico, where over 30 million vehicles and 18 million pedestrians cross each year. The California Department of Transportation's (Caltrans) Interstate 5/International Friendship Plaza project has improved the multi-modal access and aesthetic appearance at San Ysidro.

Prior to the Friendship Plaza project, the area around the San Ysidro, the world's busiest land border crossing, suffered severe congestion. The poor circulation patterns resulted in conflicts between pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorized traffic. In order to address the area's deficiencies, the Friendship Plaza project had two primary objectives: (1) improve multimodal access, and (2) enhance the area’s aesthetic appearance.

Improve Multimodal Access
The Friendship Plaza project improves accessibility for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users through the following project elements:

• A new plaza and an enhanced promenade leading from the street to the entrance of the pedestrian border crossing into Mexico.
• Relocation of bus stops and private vehicle drop-off areas to reduce circulation conflicts and congestion.
• Upgraded walkways, access ramps, and border crossing turnstiles for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
• New bike path and parking facilities for 300 bikes to promote bike use.
• A redesign of the San Diego Trolley terminus to minimize walking distance between the trolley stop and pedestrian border crossing entrance.
• A signalized crosswalk to direct pedestrians to the desired travel routes.

Enhanced Aesthetics
The Friendship Plaza project enhances the area's aesthetic appearance by adding:

• Nine new bilingual signs describing California and Baja California’s history of Spanish exploration and colonization.
• Decorative pavement graphics showing Spanish mission locations. The pavement graphics allow pedestrians to retrace the path taken by Spanish explorers.
• Benches, trash receptacles, lighting, and ornamental landscape planting for visual interest.
• Screening and shade throughout the project area to provide a comfortable and pleasant border crossing experience.

Implementing improvements at the Friendship Plaza required collaboration among various entities, including: the City of San Diego, the San Ysidro Business Association, the San Diego Metropolitan Transportation Development Board, the Federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Mexican and City of Tijuana governments. By working together, these agencies improved the non-motorized transportation conditions at the border crossing.

For more information about the Friendship Plaza project, please contact Tom Ham, Senior Landscape Architect for Caltrans District 11 at tomham@dot.ca.gov.