Motorists who plan on driving into Tijuana next weekend may want to reconsider those plans, says the U.S. General Services Administration.
Beginning at 3 a.m. on Sept. 23 and ending at noon Sept. 25 — a total of 57 hours — all southbound lanes of Interstate 5 and I-805 will be closed to traffic south of State Route 905.
Detours will be provided for destinations south of SR-905; however, vehicular access into Mexico through the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry will be closed.
Anthony Kleppe, GSA Region 9 Land port of entry program manager, said the closure has to do with removing a 6,000-square-foot steel and canvas canopy that spans all five lanes of Interstate 5 at the port of entry.
“To safely remove that structure, we need to shut down the freeway,” Kleppe said.
“Given the fact that we’re going to have to shutdown the freeway, we’ve decided that we’re going to remove a lot of the infrastructure that exist in that south bound roadway in one shot so that we’re not having to impact the traveling public repeatedly.”
During the 57-hour closure, the plan is to remove the steel canopy structure, remove crash barriers on I- 5, and realign and expand I-5 into the Mexico El Chaparral Port of Entry.
The full realignment is expected be completed in summer of 2019.
This phase expands the number of southbound vehicles inspection lanes from five to 10 within the port, and from 10 to 19 at the El Chaparral border crossing to improve the roadway alignment for vehicles entering Mexico. An additional eight northbound vehicle inspection lanes with 15 additional inspection booths are also being constructed.
Kleppe said he recommends people to stay home during the closure, but if driving into Mexico is a must, he advises motorists use the Otay Mesa Land Port of Entry, located about 9-miles east of the San Ysidro border.
He said about 40,000 vehicles cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry per day, which is a significant amount, Kleppe said.
Being that Otay Mesa border only has five inspection lanes he anticipates long delays.
“If your travel takes you to Mexico during the 57-hour closure we are suggesting to leave (a few days) early,” he said.
“We’re asking people to consider taking transit and cross as pedestrians… and finally, if people’s trip absolutely, positively, can’t be delayed or changed, we are asking folks to give themselves plenty of extra time because we are expecting significant delays going into Mexico with people crossing through the 905.”
Kleppe said the best way for pedestrians to get to get to the border is via public transit.
Interstate 5 South will be closed for international and local traffic. Kleppe said if shoppers want to get to the Las Americas Premium outlets, they could get off at Dairy Mart Road or check the detour map at www.GSA.gov/5realign.
Traffic coming north into San Diego will not be affected by the closure, neither will the port’s two pedestrian facilities going north and southbound.
“Northbound and pedestrian operations are unaffected by the 57 hour closure” Kleppe said.
