This weekend offered a coveted rarity for commuters crossing the world’s busiest land border crossing — a brief transit.
From Friday at noon until Monday at 8 a.m., San Diegan and Tijuanese border crossers embraced a speedy crossing at the San Yisdro port of entry. Thanks to a pause in ongoing construction, lanes were expanded from 17 to 23, with a doubled 43 inspection booths.
As U-T San Diego summarizes, in order for the process to speed up the port of entry needs cash. But like the commuters returning to the crossing Monday afternoon, everyone should be prepared to endure the status quo, a painfully long wait-time.
Federal officials have promised that the long waits will drop with completion of the planned $583 million upgrade of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which would expand the port’s capacity to 63 inspection booths for northbound vehicles and include a new pedestrian processing facility. But with only the first phase funded by Congress, the timing of the project’s completion has remained uncertain.
