The San Ysidro boarder crossing is the world’s busiest Land Port of Entry. That serves over 50,000 northbound vehicles and 25,000 northbound pedestrians.

    GSA understands the importance of maintaining border crossing services, as well as increasing efficiency, security, and safety for federal agencies and the traveling public. “Looking to the future” the San Ysidro LPOE is undergoing a major expansion that will include a new northbound inspection facility, primary vehicle inspection booths, secondary inspection area, administration space, and a pedestrian processing facility.
    The first phase of the port’s renovation involves constructing an east-west pedestrian bridge nearly 900 feet in length, the uncovered path stretching across sixteen lanes of highway traffic and CBP operations exposes the pedestrians queued along its length to the elements as they travel south into Mexico.
    My competition challenge was to come up with a design that would have equal impact on both sides of the boarder.  A solution that would impress both countries coming and going.  Since we are well into the twenty first century I first thought that the design should also not only be green, but functional and kinetic as well.  I understood that harnessing the sun’s energy with solar technology would also be a good idea at an region that gets sunshine most of the year.