The longest walk in San Diego is about to get a little shorter.
More than 100,000 people cross the San Ysidro border crossing every day. Roughly a quarter of them use one of two pedestrian border crossings.
But ever since U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) closed one of the crossings, PedWest, people have been waiting four to five hours to walk across the other one.
CBP reopened PedWest at 6 a.m. Thursday morning. Northbound lanes will be open between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m., while southbound travel will be available from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
“This is excellent news to start this new year on the right track,” said Kenia Zamarripa, vice president of International Business Affairs for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Part of Zamarripa’s job is to help businesses navigate the complications of working on the U.S.-Mexico border. She is extremely aware of the fact that temporary closures and long wait times cost businesses billions of dollars in lost economic output every year.
“As much as we want to say that our location is key to our global competitiveness, that all relies on efficient border infrastructure,” she said.
San Diego’s proximity to Tijuana — and its major manufacturing sector — should give San Diego a major economic advantage. But that advantage is squandered when long border wait times turn a 20-minute car ride into a four-hour commute, she said.
Zamarripa applauded CBP’s decision to partially reopen PedWest, but said it’s not enough.
“We want all border crossings to be operating at full potential, with lanes fully staffed so we can leverage our border’s true potential,” she said.
PedWest was just one of four border crossings CBP closed in December. At the time, the agency cited an influx of illegal migration throughout the southern border.
The other impacted border crossings were Eagle Pass in Texas, and Nogales and Lukeville in Arizona.
“CBP will continue to prioritize our border security mission as necessary in response to this evolving situation,” the agency said in a statement. “We continue to assess security situations, adjust our operational plans, and deploy resources to maximize enforcement efforts against noncitizens who do not use lawful pathways.”
Despite the reopening, there remains a lot of uncertainty over the long-term future of PedWest.
The popular border crossing was temporarily closed in 2023 — once in September and again in December. And it has not been fully operational since before the pandemic.
