RickS
May 2, 2010, 11:25 AM
Post #4 of 4
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Re: [katzor] Please Help With Presido/Ojinaga Crossing
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I have crossed the border at this area several times in the last 8 years, including last December (2009), when I drive down from Colorado. Often alone. My observations are:
Presidio Tx. is a good layover if needed with a couple of good motels and other resources. It is a very good crossing with regards to ease of getting FM-T and temporary car permits. It has never taken me more than 30 minutes to accomplish the crossing and most of that time is spent with my rudimentary Spanish! There is also a convenient casa de cambio on the boulevard out of town, right next to a Pemex station.
The 'cross-country road' from Ojinaga to Camargo is indeed isolated and no, there are no gas stations during the "150 mile" traverse..... in fact there is 'nothing' along the route. And it is has very little traffic and probably no cellphone service either. As far as the safety factor I can only give you my impressions..... even in today's environment the probability of my coming into contact with an undesirable element (other than a stray cow maybe!) is so low that I don't give it (driving that route) more consideration than I do driving in other areas of Mexico. I don't drive anywhere in Mexico at night and I don't leave my brain NOB, but otherwise I'll drive that road 'with comfort' until I hear otherwise that it is a dangerous corridor. I have never heard such comments about the road.
The road is mostly a flat and straight-arrow shot..... one will sometimes drive 30 miles without a twist only to drive another 30 before the next one. It is currently in pretty good shape but was better 4 years ago. It is neither narrow nor wide. The surface is mostly without potholes but in places the sub-structure (as with many Mexican roads) was not properly prepared so one gets a little 'rock and roll' effect. I drive it at 70-75 mph without concern. My experience is that one will have no traffic to worry about.... maybe 10 cars/pickup trucks the whole way! It is a rather boring drive as the scenery is typical barren desert with mountains in the distance all around.
At it's 'termination' one is about 9km east of Camargo. I never go 'back' into Camargo and thus the 15 cuota on down towards Torreon but rather I continue (left) on another 2-lane road down to Jimenez and then get on the cuota there (sometimes I don't even get on the cuota there but take the free road paralleling the cuota to Torreon to save a few more bucks.... but that part of the free road is sometimes narrow, has a couple of towns to slow on down and has significant big truck traffic!).
Another option to get from Ojinaga to the cuota 15 is to take an 'unknown and unpublished' cuota just a few miles out of Ojinaga on the road we are discussing. After one passes the 26km checkpoint on this road one comes to a Military checkpoint and the entrance to a 'new' cuota that goes to Chihuahua City. I've never taken it but have talked to others who have.... it was built to give another/better route from Ojinaga to Chihuahua than the 2-lane twisting traditional road between the two.
(This post was edited by RickS on May 2, 2010, 11:31 AM)
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