Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Border traffic Hell

Carmageddon, San Ysidro edition

Pedestrian lanes morning of July 20. Authorities recommend crossing the border by foot starting Sept. 23. - Image by Matthew Suárez
Pedestrian lanes morning of July 20. Authorities recommend crossing the border by foot starting Sept. 23.

Aviso importante para la comunidad de border crossers and visitors: prepare to suffer longer wait times heading into Tijuana starting late September. This is due to the third and final phase of the $741 million border expansion by the U.S. General Services Agency. Completion is expected for the summer of 2019.

The following months the entry will be reduced to three lanes instead of the usual five.

Starting at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 23 and lasting an estimate of 57 hours until Monday at noon, all traffic headed south on Interstate 5 through the San Ysidro Port of Entry will be rerouted to the Otay Mesa border gate. The total closure is to remove a large steel and canvas canopy and the concrete crash barriers where several car accidents have occurred and where border patrol agents sporadically stand on the freeway checking southbound vehicles.

Sponsored
Sponsored
The third and final phase of the $741 million border expansion

The following months the entry will be reduced to three lanes instead of the usual five. The intent is eventually to double the five lines to ten, add eight more northbound inspection booths to a total of 33, changing the 110-degree sharp curve that leads you to Mexican customs to a 90-degree angle, and adding southbound inspection booths to be operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and a secondary inspection area.

Northbound vehicles will be unaffected, though the ripple effect will be felt by other ports of entry as authorities recommend crossing the border by foot.

Similar to the 54-hour shut down of the 405 freeway in Los Angeles during the summer of 2011. Except this will only affect the community of tens of thousands of border crossers, and some areas of San Ysidro. According to data from the Bureau of Transportation 1,877,128 passengers in vehicles crossed the border in September of 2016 while 621,470 crossed by foot. The rest of San Diego will have traffic as usual.

Southbound pedestrian traffic through San Ysidro has suffered a heavy increase in wait times since late 2015 when Mexico started implementing border rules and stopped the days of freely walking into Tijuana (you can still do this through Otay). As the busiest land border in the Western Hemisphere continues to get even busier, wait times for foreigners can be over an hour long.

Pedestrians used to flow freely.. Now there are two lanes for walkers: one for Mexican citizens and the other for foreigners. The Mexican lane continues to flow with a Mexican border agent (Instituto Nacional de Migración) sometimes asking for proof of citizenship by a simple “¿Mexicano?” A convincing “si lo soy,” or by looking like you belong is usually enough to go through. The foreigners' lane gets delayed as American agents meticulously fill out forms, stamp passports, and give out a useless piece of paper that no one ever checks.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Spa-Like Facial Treatment From Home - This Red Light Therapy Mask Makes It Possible

Next Article

Ramona musicians seek solution for outdoor playing at wineries

Ambient artists aren’t trying to put AC/DC in anyone’s backyard
Pedestrian lanes morning of July 20. Authorities recommend crossing the border by foot starting Sept. 23. - Image by Matthew Suárez
Pedestrian lanes morning of July 20. Authorities recommend crossing the border by foot starting Sept. 23.

Aviso importante para la comunidad de border crossers and visitors: prepare to suffer longer wait times heading into Tijuana starting late September. This is due to the third and final phase of the $741 million border expansion by the U.S. General Services Agency. Completion is expected for the summer of 2019.

The following months the entry will be reduced to three lanes instead of the usual five.

Starting at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 23 and lasting an estimate of 57 hours until Monday at noon, all traffic headed south on Interstate 5 through the San Ysidro Port of Entry will be rerouted to the Otay Mesa border gate. The total closure is to remove a large steel and canvas canopy and the concrete crash barriers where several car accidents have occurred and where border patrol agents sporadically stand on the freeway checking southbound vehicles.

Sponsored
Sponsored
The third and final phase of the $741 million border expansion

The following months the entry will be reduced to three lanes instead of the usual five. The intent is eventually to double the five lines to ten, add eight more northbound inspection booths to a total of 33, changing the 110-degree sharp curve that leads you to Mexican customs to a 90-degree angle, and adding southbound inspection booths to be operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and a secondary inspection area.

Northbound vehicles will be unaffected, though the ripple effect will be felt by other ports of entry as authorities recommend crossing the border by foot.

Similar to the 54-hour shut down of the 405 freeway in Los Angeles during the summer of 2011. Except this will only affect the community of tens of thousands of border crossers, and some areas of San Ysidro. According to data from the Bureau of Transportation 1,877,128 passengers in vehicles crossed the border in September of 2016 while 621,470 crossed by foot. The rest of San Diego will have traffic as usual.

Southbound pedestrian traffic through San Ysidro has suffered a heavy increase in wait times since late 2015 when Mexico started implementing border rules and stopped the days of freely walking into Tijuana (you can still do this through Otay). As the busiest land border in the Western Hemisphere continues to get even busier, wait times for foreigners can be over an hour long.

Pedestrians used to flow freely.. Now there are two lanes for walkers: one for Mexican citizens and the other for foreigners. The Mexican lane continues to flow with a Mexican border agent (Instituto Nacional de Migración) sometimes asking for proof of citizenship by a simple “¿Mexicano?” A convincing “si lo soy,” or by looking like you belong is usually enough to go through. The foreigners' lane gets delayed as American agents meticulously fill out forms, stamp passports, and give out a useless piece of paper that no one ever checks.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Spa-Like Facial Treatment From Home - This Red Light Therapy Mask Makes It Possible

Next Article

Birding & Brews: Breakfast Edition, ZZ Ward, Doggie Street Festival & Pet Adopt-A-Thon

Events November 21-November 23, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader