Tijuana’s water and sewer utility CESPT (Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos de Tijuana) has completed 85% of a major drainage rehabilitation project along Avenida Guadalajara in the Sánchez Taboada area, replacing more than two kilometers of aging sewer pipe without a single road closure.
The project uses a trenchless method that installs new pipe beneath the existing line, avoiding the need to break pavement. That approach has kept traffic flowing on Avenida Guadalajara throughout construction, a notable contrast to the open-trench work that typically snarls Tijuana’s streets for weeks at a time.
Who Benefits From the Sewer Upgrade
Roughly 46,600 residents in three neighborhoods stand to gain from the work: El Valle, Sánchez Taboada, and Emperadores. CESPT said the drainage network in these colonias had exceeded its designed service life and was already showing failures before the project began.
In addition to the new pipe, crews are building 42 new access manholes along the route. These allow maintenance teams to inspect and clear the system more easily, reducing the risk of future blockages and overflows.
Trenchless Method Keeps Streets Open
The no-dig technique, sometimes called pipe bursting or slip-lining, threads a new pipe through the interior of the old one or pulls it along the same alignment underground. The method is faster and less disruptive than traditional excavation, though it typically costs more per meter.
Sánchez Taboada sits in east-central Tijuana, southeast of the Zona Río commercial district and roughly 10 kilometers from the San Ysidro border crossing. The area is a mix of residential housing and small businesses, with heavy daily traffic on Avenida Guadalajara.
Broader Context for Tijuana’s Sewer Woes
The project comes as Tijuana faces ongoing pressure to modernize its wastewater infrastructure. Cross-border sewage flows into the Tijuana River and the Pacific Ocean have been a persistent crisis, prompting diplomatic and legal action from both the United States and Mexico. While the Sánchez Taboada rehabilitation is a separate, domestic initiative focused on neighborhood-level drainage, it fits a broader pattern of deferred maintenance across the city’s aging sewer network.
CESPT has not announced a completion date for the remaining 15% of work, but the final phase is expected to proceed with the same trenchless approach. The project was first reported by Jornada BC.