Giant machines are leveling hills and filling in canyons on three sides of the Mariposa Port of Entry as a steady stream of trucks and cars inches its way north though the inspection lanes.

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That long wait to enter or leave the United States is the impetus behind the construction that will create a new expanded port with 12 lanes. With about $213 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or stimulus), the federal General Services Administration (GSA) broke ground on the project in October 2009. The new port should be ready by spring 2014.

“Every piece of the facility will be demolished,” said Joe Agosttini, assistant port director with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “But they’ll build the new facility first.”

GSA owns the land at the port, Agosttini said. “They’re the landlord for the federal government. We pay rent.”

That includes a dirt area along the industrial park west of the port entrance, where equipment operators cut a swath along the fence. This area will become the new southbound lanes into Mexico, Agosttini said as he drove a reporter around the site.

East of the port, giant scrapers rumble up and down a dirt hill like a convoy of tanks. Their job is to scoop dirt donated by David Parker from his 30-acre property and carry it to the construction zone close to Mariposa Road.

A bulldozer scoops dirt off the top of a mound and shoves it down the hill for the scrapers to collect.

“This operation costs 44 cents a second,” said Mike Cowan, project superintendent for Rummel Construction of Scottsdale. “This will all be leveled.”

Cowan expects to finish the earth-moving in April, he said. The dirt will fill in a canyon next to the Shell Station and bring it up to street level, Agosttini said.

Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Phoenix, the contractor for Phase I, expects to wrap up its work by summer, said Vice-President Steve Grauer. GSA is soliciting bids for Phase II, facilities construction, on the Web site www.fbo.gov and expects to name a contractor by March, said Gene Gibson, GSA regional public affairs director.