U.S. to Build Fence Across Border Crossing at Tecate : Security: Officials hope the six-mile-long barrier will curtail drug smuggling that has moved east because of San Ysidro barricade.

SAN DIEGO — A new border fence 10 feet high will be erected by the military at the Tecate port of entry next spring as part of the government’s ongoing plan to stop drug smuggling, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The steel curtain will be installed three miles east and west of the Tecate crossing, located in a remote, hilly area about 35 miles southeast of San Diego. Officials said that engineering preparations for the barrier will begin Jan. 3 and that construction is scheduled to start by April 1.

Border Patrol spokesman Steve Kean said the success of a similar fence built recently at both ends of the San Ysidro port of entry prompted officials to request construction of the Tecate fence.

According to Kean, the 14-mile San Ysidro steel wall, which runs from the Pacific Ocean east past the San Ysidro and Otay border crossings, has led to dramatic increases in drug seizures. In September, the Army Corps of Engineers announced plans to install powerful floodlights along the length of the San Ysidro fence, except for a one-mile stretch of particularly rugged terrain.

Before the San Ysidro fence was built, drug smugglers routinely drove across the border, traversing farm fields and dirt roads on the flat mesa to roads that feed into northbound Interstate 5 and Interstate 15.

Since the San Ysidro fence went up in 1991, marijuana seizures have increased 400%, while cocaine seizures have risen by 1,100%, Kean said.

“These increases are directly attributable to the border fence,” he said. “We have denied smugglers important terrain that they used for years to drive their loads across. We’ve forced them to use remote regions and smaller corridors. In some cases, we’ve forced them to carry their loads across the border on foot. All these factors have made it easier for us to apprehend them.”

The San Ysidro fence has moved smugglers east to Tecate, where they have begun driving drug loads across flat terrain, officials said.

“There are flatland areas east and west of Tecate that we need to seal,” Kean said. “If we seal these flat areas we’ll force smugglers farther east, out of their vehicles and into the canyons and more rugged areas, where they will be easier to apprehend.”

The fence is built with pierced steel planking, known by the military acronym PSP.