Customs Service to Add 120 Inspectors in ’91 : Border: Regional staff will increase by more than a third, but little immediate relief from delays is seen.

The U.S. Customs Service plans to deploy another 120 inspectors along the California-Mexico border, but authorities say little immediate relief is in sight from the frustrating traffic delays that now plague the busy crossings.

The first of the new hires--which altogether represent an increase by more than one-third in the current inspection staff regionally--are not expected to be posted until next year, customs officials said, after the busy holiday season that usually brings some of the most massive vehicular tie-ups.

“I like to think you’re going to see some of them hitting the line sometime before April,” said John McGowan, acting district director of customs for the San Diego district, whose authority extends over the entire California-Mexico border, including five land ports of entry.

The traffic jams along border routes leading to San Diego, Calexico and other U.S. border cities is a major irritant among travelers and businesses on both sides of the international boundary. Transnational access is vital to area commerce, and area lawmakers and others see the intractable delays as harmful to the region’s economy.

“The long waits hurt both sides of the border,” said Sigfrido Pineda, director of the Tijuana Convention and Tourism Committee, a promotional group. “People don’t want to cross the border because they don’t want to wait in line.”

Current delays, Pineda said, average 45 minutes for each northbound vehicle heading through inspection at San Ysidro, the giant facility that is considered the world’s busiest border port. Delays often exceed an hour, he said.

Customs officials dispute those figures, contending that 91% of vehicles pass through inspection in 40 minutes or less.

More than 50 million visitors entered U.S. territory via the San Ysidro port in the most recent fiscal year, a 13% increase over the previous 12-months. That’s almost 1 million a week. Most were aboard the more than 13 million vehicles that passed through the inspection stations.

Next year, many fear the delays will worsen, as U.S. authorities embark in March on an 18-month project to remove hazardous asbestos fibers from the San Ysidro facility. Four traffic lanes there will be closed during the period, authorities say. Four new lanes are scheduled to open at the Otay Mesa crossing in February, but fewer travelers use that crossing, which is about 7 miles to the east of the San Ysidro port.

For years, U.S. authorities have acknowledged that San Ysidro--along with the smaller ports at Otay Mesa and Calexico--are in need of additional staffing. At San Ysidro, for instance, a shortage of inspectors means that all 24 inspection booths are seldom in operation at once. The difficult nature of the job--inspectors are outside and subject to a steady dose of fumes and frazzled motorists--brings a high turnover, authorities say.

Meanwhile, the nation’s offensive against drug trafficking has given the customs service new responsibilities, even though overall staffing has often not reflected the added duties.

Authorities acknowledge that a huge volume of clandestine drugs and other contraband is ferried into the United States aboard vehicles whose drivers hope to pass through the border port without close scrutiny. In October, a gas tanker-truck laden with more than 4 tons of cocaine--the second-largest such stash of the drug ever found in California--was discovered at the Otay Mesa border crossing in San Diego.

“We’re not closing booths just to frustrate travelers,” said McGowan. “It’s an issue of priorities and existing resources.”

U.S. Customs Commissioner Carol Boyd Hallett announced last week that the agency plans to hire the 120 new border inspectors for the U.S border area in California by next October; the region now has 347 inspectors. Most of the new personnel will be assigned to the understaffed ports at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Calexico.