TUCSON, Ariz. - Arizona's share of trade along the border has not kept pace with that of California and Texas. But a new project to revamp the clogged Nogales commercial port could provide a critical boost to the state's future trade with Mexico, the governor said Friday.

Gov. Janet Napolitano told the Arizona-Mexico Commission meeting here that the Nogales CyberPort project, a proposed upgrade to the port south of Tucson, holds the key to improving Arizona's trade opportunities with Mexico.

The first phase of the project, released Friday, calls for transforming the Mariposa commercial port of entry at Nogales into a national pilot test facility and improving infrastructure around the port.

The project planners recommends technological and infrastructure improvements, including more trucking lanes, a commuter lane and road and rail upgrades. But they also want to move many inspection processes away from the port.

One of the most important tasks will be to eliminate redundancy of inspections, said Scott Davis, the project's director.

The project also will focus on broadening trade beyond the Mexican state of Sonora and seek to attract shipments of high-tech, value-added products now being transported through other states. Transport of those high-tech commodities has an affect on the creation and retention of higher-paying jobs.

Agricultural and mining products now dominate goods transported into Arizona.

"Time literally is money, and the Cyberport is a big part of the Arizona solution," Napolitano said Friday.

"Its vision is to transform Mariposa into a truly state-of-the-art facility, not only to reduce wait times but to streamline processing and improve efficiency while still maintaining the highest level of security."

The Mariposa port has lost about one-quarter of its marketshare to ports in Texas and California since 1995, said Carol Sanger, executive director of the CANAMEX Corridor Project, which seeks to create a Mexico-to-Canada trade and tourism corridor.

The Mariposa port "simply is overwhelmed," Napolitano said. "The problem is that Mariposa was never intended to handle such a huge volume of truck traffic - up to 1,400 trucks per day during peak season."

That volume results in trucks lined up for miles during the produce season and some truckers resorting to other states with shorter waits.

The 17-month CyberPort project, costing $525,000, was commissioned by the Arizona Department of Transportation and developed by the University of Arizona's Office of Economic Development, involving government agencies and the private sector on both sides of the border.

The CyberPort project's first phase will bring $29.5 million in federal funds to help improve port infrastructure. But the CyberPort concept will be applicable to any land-based border port, said Bruce Wright, the university's vice president for economic development.

Napolitano called trade critical to Arizona. "It is an engine of economic development and job creation, and it will be a pillar of the new Arizona economy," she said.

Ruben Beltran, Mexican consul general in Phoenix, who served in an advisory capacity on the project, said putting the project's recommendations into effect would dramatically reduce the time frame and increase efficiencies for goods to be processed from Mexico through the port.

But he added, "Radical transformations are needed on the Mexican side as well," including either creating a rail spur to divert train traffic to the Mariposa site or an above-ground crossing through the main downtown Nogales port of entry. Currently, traffic is tied up daily because of three freight trains moving at street level.