Behind the fence are the remains of the “switchback” walkway that used to bring pedestrians from San Ysidro.

Whether it will be used as a traffic route or just a utility road between the old Mexican border station and the new one (now under construction) is open to conjecture, but a new road bed has definitely been poured between the pedestrian border entry to Mexico in San Ysidro, stretching perhaps a quarter of of a mile to the new border station at its westerly end.

The road runs alongside the U.S.-built steel border fence. In the photo, just behind the fence, on the U.S. side, are the remains of the “switchback” walkway tower that used to bring pedestrians down to the Mexican port of entry from San Ysidro, after crossing over and above I-5 as it ended at the border. 

After the recent demolition of some government buildings, temporary plywood walls went up for a couple of weeks while the construction, hidden from view, went on. On September 18, the walls were brought down, revealing the expanse of grooved concrete.

Construction workers wandered about the new surface, removing concrete molds and doing finishing work.