New State-of-the-art Border Crossing for Tijuana

A brand new Border Crossing has been built on the Mexico side of the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing.

It boast up to 22 gates to expedite traffic, which includes state-of-the-art technology for Customs and Security purposes. Drivers heading down to Baja Mexico can now enjoy a quick security checkand enjoy their time in Baja.

The border between Tijuana and San Diego, California, is known as the busiest land port of entry between Mexico and the United States, recently introduced a brand new infrastructure to cross into Mexico with an investment of $60 Million, including the new POE and two bridges. The new port of entry known as “El Chaparral,” tripled the existing capacity, increasing up to 6,000 vehicles per hour with 22 functioning lanes. Additionaly, “El Chaparral” port of entry increases security and efficiency equipped with cutting-edge technology to detect any illegal activity, making it the most modern in the country

The U.S. counterpart, the San Ysidro Port of Entry, is now in process of a $600 million dollar expansion, that will be completed in phases, in 2013 north bound flows will be completed and the new connection through Interstate 5 to “El Chaparral” will be concluded in 2016 once Congress approves funding. The opening of “El Chaparral” is the first step of a bi-national effort for Smart Border Crossing infrastructure. The cities of Tijuana and San Diego are combining efforts to develop programs that will speed up border crossing to minimize the impacts of long border waits in the region. According to a Sandag (San Diego Association of Governments) study, the net economic losses in the San Diego County due to long border waits reach $1.28 billion in business income. On the Mexican side of the border the negative impact is significant too; Baja California loses close to two million personal trips a year that may result in about $118 million in net revenues. For the U.S., the complete expansion project of the San Ysidro port of entry represents an investment of over $600 million, which is being carried out in three phases within the next four years; the plan to expand northbound lanes would result in a total of 63 gates over 34 lanes. While this occurs, new programs have been put together to speed up waiting times such as, Ready Lane, Sentri and Fast Lane. People enrolled in these programs have to submit applications and go through a pre-screening process; being approved results in reducing waiting times from an average of 2 hours to 30 minutes or less during peak hours.
In addition to the aforementioned plans, there is a project for the development of a bi-national air terminal linking Otay Mesa and Tijuana’s airport. This terminal would be used exclusively by passengers who would have a pedestrian border crossing entryway from where they would be able to board direct flights to Shanghai, Tokyo and other international destinations. This would increase interaction among the region and most important business destinations.
Before Driving to Mexico, make sure to purchase your Mexico Auto Insurance on our website www.amigomexinsurance.com, where you can quote, buy and print your Mexico Auto Insurance policy in less than 5 minutes. 

For any questions, please call us at (619) 428-4200 or visit us at www.amigomexinsurance.com to ensure you have a great trip to Mexico.