WELCOME TO MEXAMERICA:

SAN DIEGO--This city has spent decades looking for ways to expand its cramped, one-runway airport. Today the region is edging closer to a solution, but it comes with a catch: It's in Mexico.

Developers backed by a group of U.S. and Mexican investors said they are close to breaking ground on a privately owned pedestrian bridge that would allow Americans and foreign travelers to cross the border directly into and out of Tijuana's General Abelardo L. Rodriguez International Airport, or TIJ.

It's not a done deal, but if the final hurdles are cleared, the for-profit project--whose investors include real-estate mogul Sam Zell--would be the latest in a series of border improvements that have strengthened the economic ties between the neighboring cities.

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