Following this, in 1972, the legislature added a new SR 117, which extended this part of SR 75 southwest to the Mexican border near Border Field State Park, to the state highway system, and a southerly extension of SR 125 to the border at Otay Mesa to the state highway and Freeway and Expressway systems. Two years later, planning began for the construction of the Otay Mesa crossing and the construction of SR 75 to connect it to I-5 and I-805. Later, the Comprehensive Planning Organization (CPO), the local association of municipal governments, recommended using $4 million of federal funding for the construction of SR 75. The CPO later endorsed expediting construction of the freeway before completion of the border crossing, so that the freeway would primarily serve border traffic, thus preventing land speculation in Otay Mesa. While Mexican authorities wanted the crossing constructed in 1975, the CPO indicated that the funding for SR 75 would not be available until at least 1980, or even 1985. Following this, Representative Lionel Van Deerlin attempted to accelerate the construction of the crossing, even though there was no funding for the highway.
