With 14 new lanes, a long-awaited U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection facility for pedestrians coming into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry is scheduled to open on July 15.

Known as PedWest, the facility will give border-crossers a new option when entering San Ysidro from Tijuana on foot. They will be able to decide whether to cross on the eastern side of the vehicle lanes, as they currently do, or enter through the new facility on the port’s western side.

“We are going to be really changing how pedestrians cross the border,” said Anthony Kleppe, of the U.S. General Services Administration, which is overseeing reconstruction of the busy port, a multiphase, multiyear $741 million project scheduled for completion in 2019.

Kleppe, the regional land port of entry program manager for the GSA, was among a number of officials leading a tour of PedWest on Thursday. In the coming days, authorities plan campaigns to promote awareness of the facility.


(Beto Alvarez)

The changes directly impact some 20,000 northbound pedestrians who cross on a daily basis through San Ysidro, according to the latest figures from CBP, the agency that operates the port. Peak waiting times in recent years have stretched to two hours or more for pedestrians.

For the immediate future, the western side of the border will only accommodate northbound pedestrians. Mexico’s federal government expects to complete construction of its inspection facility for southbound crossers by the end of the year, said Luis Del Moral González of the federal agency known as INDAABIN, Mexico’s equivalent of the GSA. But it remained unclear when the facility will begin processing travelers.

1 / 16 CBP officers walk through the new PedWest facility that will have 14 lanes for northbound pedestrian traffic into the U.S. (Peggy Peattie) 2 / 16 Anthony Kleppe of GSA explains the development and overall plans for the new PedWest processing facility and adjoining transit center. (Peggy Peattie) 3 / 16 Anthony Kleppe of GSA explains the development and overall plans for the new PedWest processing facility and adjoining transit center. (Peggy Peattie) 4 / 16 San Ysidro port director Sidney Aki explains the layout of the new PedWest facility. At left is agent Bruce Ward. (Peggy Peattie) 5 / 16 CBP officers walk through the area that will eventually be southbound pedestrian traffic. (Peggy Peattie) 6 / 16 San Ysidro port director Sidney Aki describes the PedWest facility Thursday that will open for northbound pedestrians July 15, for those waking from Mexico into the U.S. (Peggy Peattie) 7 / 16 On Thursday the agencies involved in creating the new PedWest pedestrian crossing processing facility opened the facility to the media. (Peggy Peattie) 8 / 16 On Thursday the agencies involved in creating the new PedWest pedestrian crossing processing facility opened the facility to the media. (Peggy Peattie) 9 / 16 On Thursday the agencies involved in creating the new PedWest pedestrian crossing processing facility opened the facility to the media. (Peggy Peattie) 10 / 16 San Ysidro port director Sidney Aki explains the layout of the new PedWest facility. At right is agent Bruce Ward. (Peggy Peattie) 11 / 16 On Thursday the agencies involved in creating the new PedWest pedestrian crossing processing facility opened the facility to the media. (Peggy Peattie) 12 / 16 The new PedWest facility overall project combines a pedestrian processing facility with a new transit center. (Peggy Peattie) 13 / 16 PedWest will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (Peggy Peattie) 14 / 16 The new PedWest facility overall project combines a pedestrian processing facility with a new transit center. (Peggy Peattie) 15 / 16 The new PedWest facility overall project combines a pedestrian processing facility with a new transit center. (Peggy Peattie) 16 / 16 PedWest will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week (Peggy Peattie)


The opening of PedWest means that there will be two northbound pedestrian entrances, both operating 24 hours a day, and both with separate “Sentri” lanes for pre-cleared travelers and “Ready” lanes for those with U.S. passport cards and other radio-frequency-enabled documents. Both will be able to process handicapped travelers.

PedWest was also designed with a lane that can accommodate bicyclists, though it will not be for their exclusive use.

PedWest’s launching is seen as the critical first step in the reconstruction of the port’s pedestrian infrastructure. Its opening allows for the demolition of the current 14-lane pedestrian inspection facility on the port’s eastern side to make way for a new 20-lane pedestrian entrance there that is scheduled to open in 2019.

In the interim, travelers on the eastern side will be processed through a provisional six-lane facility.


It remains unclear whether the opening of the new lanes will reduce waiting times for pedestrians. CBP “will commit at a minimum to providing the same level of service we’re providing today,” said Pete Flores, director of the agency’s San Diego field office.

One factor that could make some pedestrians reluctant to use the facility could be the distance — six-tenths of a mile — between PedWest and the border trolley station, which is near the exit of the eastern pedestrian crossing. According to the Metropolitan Transit System, which operates the trolley, about half the northbound pedestrian crossers board the trolley at San Ysidro.

Adjacent to PedWest and opening on the same day will be the new Virginia Avenue Transit Center, a multimodal facility designed to organize traffic. It will accommodate buses, taxis, pedicabs, and drop-offs and pickups by private vehicles.

Pedestrians entering San Ysidro through PedWest will be able to use their trolley tickets for a bus to the San Ysidro trolley stop at no extra cost.


U-T interns Allen Siegler and Kate Sequeira contributed to this report.

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com