"PedWest" Is Now Open: The New Pedestrian Access to San Ysidro

They estimate the waiting time to be of 30 minutes.

By Redacción2016-07-16T00:55:00+00:00

"The condition of our city's border is one of our greatest strengths," said the mayor of San Diego, Kevin L. Faulconer. "This is a collaboration, because it is not only two cities, but a region. It's all about building bridges", said the mayor at the opening of PedWest, which connects San Diego and Tijuana.

The new pedestrian crossing of San Yisidro, known as PedWest, could serve 20,000 people that will cross from Tijuana to San Diego, and anyone who wishes to process 1-94 permits.

Since the 70s San Ysidro featured the same pedestrian access, now with this expansion it is expected to accelerate the access to the more than 20,000 people crossing daily, becoming one of the biggest expansions of the port of entry .

The Virginia Avenue Transit Center (VATC) has been incorporated into Pedwest, making it easier for pedestrians to get to their destination. The VATC works as a place for droping and picking up people who want to cross,

and it also has two stations that allows you to pay for the transit ticket, which can be used in every kind of transport of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.

In the coming years Tijuana and San Diego could share more than five entrances, such as the Cross Border Xpress at the Tijuana Airport, the still under construction Otay II port of entry, and the current pedestrian and vehicular checkpoints in function.

According to the director of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Sidney Aki, more than 7,000 people are expected to cross through the new access during the day; depending on the flow of people, they estimate that the average waiting time would be of 30 minutes.