TIJUANA U.S. border authorities announced that they planned to reopen all lanes at the San Ysidro port of entry by Saturday morning.
The news could not come at a better time.
Friday was Independence Day in Mexico and many residents were trying to take advantage of the day off to head to San Diego. At one point on Friday morning, the wait to cross was more than two and a half hours.
Wait times at the Otay Mesa border crossing were longer than usual, as well.
In a statement issued at mid-day Friday, Tijuana Mayor Carlos Bustamante announced that lanes 1 to 4 had been reopened at San Ysidro which are used by crossers with SENTRI passes. This meant that northbound travelers had 16 gates available.
The other eight lanes would reopen by Saturday, the mayor said he was told by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin.
The weekend plans included using the cargo lanes at the Otay Mesa border crossing for use by regular traffic to ease northbound travel, the mayor added.
For its part, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on its Twitter account that it expected all lanes to be open at San Ysidro by Saturday morning.
A construction canopy collapsed at the San Ysidro border crossing on Wednesday morning, sending 11 people to the hospital, one of them with serious injuries.
The port of entry was immediately closed, sending thousands of cars flooding back into Tijuanas Río zone. Thirteen lanes were reopened around dawn on Thursday.
