The New San Ysidro Pedestrian Border Crossings

It is easier than ever to get back home from Mexico now - With two pedestrian crossings and a rebuilt vehicle crossing!

Entering the USA at the new San Ysidro PedEast Pedestrian
Border Crossing at the Port of Entry San Ysidro 

For any American returning home via the USA - Mexican Pedestrian Border Crossing at San Ysidro realized there was plenty of room for improvement to the infrastructure.  After many years the system of allowing entry into the United States for citizens of the USA, foreigners with Visas, and Mexicans with Green Cards sorely needed a complete makeover.  The San Ysidro Border Crossing is the world busiest International border with over 70,000 northbound vehicles and 20,000 northbound pedestrians crossing each day into Southern California and the USA.  

The San Ysidro Port of Entry Pedestrian Border Crossing

After several years of construction, the modernized pedestrian crossing for northbound travelers into the U.S.A. and for southbound pedestrians entering Mexico is complete. 

PedWest Pedestrian Border Crossing at the Port of San Ysidro

The longtime awaiting of the reinvented pedestrian border crossings at the Port of San Ysidro to Mexico and returning to the U.S. was no easy task. To accomplish this the task caused a great deal of inconvenience due to a construction project that at first saw a complete makeover to the northbound vehicle crossing and then the start of the complete rebuilding of the Northbound Pedestrian Lanes in August of 2016.  Now about three years later the ultra-modern pedestrian crossings are open that lead from Mexico to the modern U.S. Immigration and Customs facility - the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The historic immigration building from 1933 has also undergone complete restoration including adding an entirely new building that is fashioned like the 1933 classic building.  

San Diego Trolley Station at the  San Diego - Tijuana Border Crossing

This new modernized Immigration and Customs facility is streamlined to make entry to the USA really fast. In 2016 a second pedestrian crossing offering a solution to the original border crossing trouble was a major improvement to returning to the USA.  However, many people resisting that solution due to a long walk on the Mexican side and as well the entry was a half a mile east of the Trolley Station, which was another 10-minute walk. 

The pedestrian walkway to the
Mexican Border at the main
San Ysidro Port of Entry

The newly built PedWest Pedestrian Border Crossing to the USA relieved the stress that the original San Ysidro Pedestrian Border Crossing had been experiencing for more than two decades. From Centro Tijuana travelers returning to the USA can take the walking bridge over the Tijuana River to access the walkway to the PedWest Border Crossing which is about a 15-minute walk from Plaza Cecelia and the famous TJ Arch. A taxi ride to the PedWest walkway is also an option however that still leaves a 10-minute walk. 

San Ysidro Border Crossing

PedWest Chaparral Border Crossing

The San Ysidro Port of Entry Border Crossing 

PedWest is located at the east side of the Las Americas Outlet Mall where Virginia Avenue dead-ends at the border, immediately west of the modernized Mexican El Chaparral Port of Entry for vehicle traffic into Mexico.  A new pedestrian entrance to Mexico is located at PedWest also which allows all pedestrian travelers to enter Mexico. On the Mexican side of the border, a walkway connects PedWest, ending across the street from the Plaza Tijuana, from which there is a walking bridge to Downtown Tijuana. On the USA side of the border, there is a 10-minute walk that includes a walking bridge that crosses the 5 Interstate Freeway connecting the San Ysidro Border Crossing and the San Diego Trolley Station.