Anonymous - 6-21-2005 at 05:08 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050621-1...
By Elliot Spagat
June 21, 2005
SAN DIEGO ? The nation's busiest border crossing has doubled the number of lanes for prescreened motorists, authorities said Tuesday, following
complaints that wait times were more than an hour.
Peak waits for prescreened motorists to enter the United States from Mexico at the San Ysidro crossing fell to 10 minutes from an hour when a third
lane opened June 10, said Adele Fasano, field operations director for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Diego.
A fourth lane opened Tuesday, when a Nissan Altima tore through a red ribbon to the applause of a few dozen U.S. and Mexican officials.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security converted two of San Ysidro's existing 24 lanes in response to frustration among 80,000 motorists who paid up
to $129 each to enroll in SENTRI, or Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection. Some prescreened motorists say they recently waited up
to 90 minutes.
Hector Vanegas of Chula Vista said his wife extended her maternity leave two months because it took too much time to return from her job in Tijuana
through the SENTRI lanes. Vanegas, who works at the San Diego Association of Governments, a regional planning agency, stopped using SENTRI himself
after waiting 55 minutes one day in May.
SENTRI debuted in 1995 at San Diego's Otay Mesa crossing in an effort to speed low-risk travelers into the United States from Mexico. It was
introduced in El Paso, Texas, in 1999 at the Stanton Street crossing and at San Ysidro a year later.
It will expand by the end of this year to Calexico, Calif.; Nogales, Ariz.; Hidalgo, Texas; Laredo, Texas; and Brownsville, Texas, said program
manager Donald Rogers. El Paso will introduce SENTRI at its Ysleta crossing.
A transponder in a SENTRI-registered vehicle beams passenger information to U.S. inspectors as it approaches a booth, similar to prepaid toll
collection systems across the United States. If the faces match those on file, they will face less scrutiny than motorists in other lanes.
Angelika Villagrana, director of public policy at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, said wait times grew in San Diego as more people
enrolled, making SENTRI a victim of its own success.
"Crossing the border just became a little easier and less stressful," Villagrana said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
U.S. officials also have acknowledged that a spike this year in drug trafficking ? and heightened inspections ? contributed to the longer waits in San
Diego.
elgatoloco - 6-21-2005 at 07:33 PM
Fabuloso! 
Anonymous - 6-21-2005 at 08:23 PM
I'd like to have a sentri pass at Gigante 