A proposed 25.5-kilometer bypass road along the Tijuana to Ensenada corridor has entered a 30-day public consultation period that runs from April 20 through May 19, 2026. The project, which would create a four-lane alternative route with four bridges and seven vehicle underpasses, carries an estimated price tag of 4.3 billion pesos (roughly $215 million USD). Environmental groups and citizen coalitions in Ensenada are mobilizing against it, and the consultation window is the public’s formal chance to weigh in before regulators decide whether to grant environmental clearance.
A Corridor With a Long History of Landslides and Deadly Accidents
The existing Tijuana to Ensenada toll road, known as the Scenic Highway or Carretera Escénica, opened in 1967 and runs about 100 kilometers along Baja California’s Pacific coast. The route passes through terrain that is geologically unstable. Landslides have closed sections repeatedly over the decades, sometimes for weeks at a time.
In 2013 and again in 2024, major slope failures shut down portions of the toll road near La Misión and San Miguel, forcing traffic onto the narrow, slower free road (Highway 1D and Highway 1, respectively). Fatal accidents along both routes are common. SCT, Mexico’s federal transport ministry (now called SICT), has recorded the Tijuana to Ensenada corridor among the most accident-prone in Baja California for years.
Federal officials have framed the bypass as a way to ease congestion, improve safety, and reduce vulnerability on a route where geology and growing traffic volumes collide. The environmental impact filing was submitted in January 2026 and published in the federal ecological gazette in March. SEMARNAT, Mexico’s environment ministry, is the agency conducting the public review.
95 Hectares of Coastal Scrub and 183 Documented Species in the Path
The proposed route would require construction across 53.35 hectares and a land-use change affecting 95.79 hectares of forested coastal scrub. That habitat type is endemic to Baja California’s northwestern coast and supports species found nowhere else on Earth.
A coalition of more than 50 organizations in Ensenada has pushed back against the project. Citizens logged 183 species and 737 observations within the project footprint using iNaturalist, the biodiversity tracking platform. Their data aims to show regulators that the affected area is ecologically rich, not empty scrubland.
Gabriel Camacho Jiménez, a member of the Observatorio Ciudadano de El Sauzal (a civic watchdog group in the coastal town of El Sauzal, just north of Ensenada), has argued the road’s alignment resembles infrastructure previously tied to port logistics plans. If that reading is correct, the bypass would function less as a commuter relief route and more as a freight corridor connecting Ensenada’s port facilities to Tijuana and the U.S. border. That would mean heavy truck traffic through communities that currently sit along a quieter stretch of coast.
El Sauzal, a fishing town of roughly 15,000 residents about 10 kilometers north of downtown Ensenada, has grown into a destination for wine tasting, craft beer, and seafood. It sits directly in the proposed corridor’s path. Nearby communities along the northern Ensenada coast, including areas popular with foreign second-home buyers, could see changes in traffic patterns, noise levels, and land use if the project moves forward as designed.
How to Submit Comments During the April 20 to May 19 Review Period
SEMARNAT accepts public comments during the 30-day consultation window. Comments can be submitted through Mexico’s environmental impact assessment system, known as the Sistema de Evaluación del Impacto Ambiental. The portal is accessible at http://www.gob.mx/semarnat under the environmental impact section. Comments must reference the specific project file number listed in the federal ecological gazette posting from March 2026.
Written comments can also be submitted in person at SEMARNAT’s Baja California delegation office in Ensenada. There is no requirement that comments be in Spanish, but submissions in Spanish are more likely to be formally entered into the review record. Both Mexican citizens and foreign residents can participate in the consultation process.
Local environmental groups have organized information sessions in Ensenada to help residents draft comments. The coalition opposing the project has posted maps of the proposed route and the iNaturalist species data on social media channels tied to the Observatorio Ciudadano de El Sauzal.
The consultation period closes May 19, 2026. After that date, SEMARNAT will evaluate the environmental impact statement along with public comments before issuing a ruling. That decision could approve the project, approve it with conditions, or deny the environmental permit altogether. The 4.3 billion peso project would be funded through mixed investment, meaning a combination of federal funds and private capital. The source material for this report was published by a regional English-language outlet covering Baja California.