The $577 million expansion of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which was celebrated Thursday at a groundbreaking ceremony, will become more noticeable in November when authorities begin closing northbound lanes for construction.

Meanwhile, a new pedestrian bridge and a new SENTRI enrollment center next to the San Ysidro crossing are expected to open next month, officials said.

SENTRI is the name of the high-tech border fast-pass program.

A Customs and Border Protection official said the agency plans to lower the price of a SENTRI pass from $122.25 to $42.25 but has not set a date yet when that will start.

Construction at the crossing could begin next week in the secondary inspection area but it will not be as noticeable as the closing of lanes late this year, officials said.

Authorities will initially close eight of the 24 northbound lanes but say they don't expect traffic waits to increase because they will be adding more inspection booths to some of the remaining 16 lanes, said Ramon Riesgo, project director for the U.S. General Services Administration.

"There should be no effect on wait times," Riesgo said.

Current waits for pedestrian and cars to cross the San Ysidro land port can be two hours or longer.

Officials said the goal of the project is to reduce waits to 30 minutes.

Plans to expand the border crossing began in the early 2000s. U.S. authorities began construction of

the new pedestrian bridge just north of the port more than a year ago.

More than 200 officials from both sides of the border attended the ceremony Thursday that marked the start of the next round of construction at the crossing, the busiest in the world. Two out of every 10 people entering the United States pass through the San Ysidro border crossing, more than 100,000 daily, according to officials.

Construction will focus now on expanding northbound traffic facilities to accommodate more traffic without sacrificing security.

Future projects include the expansion of southbound lanes and inspection facilities and pedestrian crossings.

Plans call for the expansion of northbound lanes from 24 to 34 with most containing two-inspection booths, which will allow inspections of more vehicles at once. The lane expansion will take six years to complete and will require work not yet funded.

Only the first of the three phases has been funded so far. The expansion of northbound lanes overlaps with the third phase of the project. The Mexican government is also building a southbound crossing facility on the Tijuana side of the port of entry as part of the binational project.

On Thursday, U.S. and Mexican officials celebrated the binational cooperative effort.

"We started building on our side of the border. We are happy to see that construction will begin on this side," said Baja California Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer said, "When it is complete it will be quite a proud entryway into California."

Other speakers were Tijuana Mayor Carlos Bustamante Anchondo, Mexico Ministry of Public Administration Salvador Vega Casillas, U.S. Congressman Bob Filner, D-San Diego, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Assistant Commissioner Thomas Winkowski and General Services Administration Administrator Martha Johnson.

Filner said the expansion could be delayed if a House Republican plan to reduce funding for the General Services Administration by more than $1 billion is successful.

"We have to make sure there is funding for phases two and three," he said.

Leonel.sanchez@sandiegored.com