A new border crossing option is scheduled to open at 6 p.m. on Monday for travelers who want to walk into Mexico through San Ysidro amid rising congestion on the freeways into Tijuana.
The southbound lanes are part of PedWest, a pedestrian crossing facility that opened last year with only northbound lanes a short walk west of the original San Ysidro Port of Entry. The new southbound lanes give people a third way to enter Mexico on foot, in addition to the Otay Mesa and east San Ysidro pedestrian crossing stations.
A nearby cross-border bridge known as CrossBorder Xpress also allows people to walk into Mexico, but only if their destination is the Tijuana International Airport.
Roughly 14 million pedestrians cross the border through San Ysidro each year, according to the Mexican consulate in San Diego. PedWest is part of a $735 million renovation of the border crossing that will continue at least through the next couple of years.
The updates to port of entry infrastructure are meant to decrease border wait times for people trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border legally. They come just days after the House approved $1.6 billion for the expansion and replacement of barriers along the border.
