We were wrong about El Chaparral location, San Diego newspaper the UT, says it is West of present crossing. They have a map with the temporary road in
red to the new crossing. No info on how to get onto the road to the toll road. We are guessing by looking at roads in the area that they might direct
one back towards the old crossing where one might come onto the bridge just before the right turn onto the road to the toll road. We will cross early
Sunday morning and hope that we have a choice of crossings, and we will opt for the old if at all prossible.
Crossed again this morning, no choices today, had to use the new Chapparel crossing. I think down the road this is going to be easier, but... They
are doing road work on the international border road, looks like all the trees they planted a few years ago are coming out and they are widening the
road to three lanes. So needless to say with the road work going on this morning the traffic was a bit of a nightmare, only one lane open.
Fortunately the Mexican road work moves at a much faster pace than CalTrans.
Next time we cross we are going to take the Centro option, guessing it will take you to 3rd avenue. It might be worth avoiding the border fence road
for the next week or so.
El Chaparral border crossing opens to cars
Access road built by the Mexican government to the new El Chaparral port of entry.
Written by
Sandra Dibble
TIJUANA — Mexican customs inspectors processed passenger vehicles at the El Chaparral port of entry for the first time on Wednesday morning, seven
days before its scheduled formal opening on Nov. 1.
The new lanes are located west of the current southbound access lanes at Puerta Mexico. El Chaparral will triple the southbound inspection capacity of
the world’s busiest land border crossing.
At 11 a.m., Mexican customs inspectors stood at the end of Interstate 5 and waved southbound cars toward the new facility -- down a sharp curve at the
end of the freeway that leads to Mexico’s five-lane access road running west along the U.S. border fence.
Traffic at the new port was light at the time, and there were more inspectors than vehicles. Some of them waited at the secondary inspection station,
carrying small hand-held computers in preparation for searching vehicles that received a red-light warning at the initial stop.
On the way out, new signs pointed the way to different parts of Tijuana.
A statement Tuesday from Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said that through Oct. 31, El Chaparral's transitional opening will “allow users to become familiar
with the new entry route to Mexico and with the operation of the new installations.”
El Chaparral has "state-of-the-art technology to carry out unobtrusive inspections of vehicles and passengers,” the statement said, promising reduced
wait times.
The opening of El Chaparral is part of a massive binational reconstruction of the congested San Ysidro border crossing. The El Chaparral facility is
envisioned as a replacement for the existing southbound lanes at Puerta Mexico, which are planned as northbound lanes once the U.S. funds the third
phase of its end of the project.
Local government and business leaders have been demanding that Puerta Mexico remain open even after El Chaparral starts operations; they worry that
the curve and access road will create a bottleneck during peak periods of vehicle traffic into Mexico.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón said earlier this month that both Puerta Mexico and El Chaparral will be open during an initial transition phase,
but he did not say how long that phase would last. Mexican federal authorities have maintained to their U.S. counterparts that the Puerta Mexico lanes
will close on Nov. 1st, and the only access to Mexico will be through El Chaparral.
The U.S. government plans to build a permanent connection between I-5 and El Chaparral once Congress provides funding.
Originally posted by durrelllrobert
The U.S. government plans to build a permanent connection between I-5 and El Chaparral once Congress provides funding.
Here is a video, in Spanish, on the new crossing.
In looking at the graphic renderings, it looks like there will be a direct connection to the Toll road to Ensenada. Looks like we will want to stay in
the right lane, and a horse-shoe bridge over the river will connect to Playa de TJ road, that connects to the Toll Road. Let's all hope it's going to
be that easy.
Originally posted by BornFisher
I crossed today and it is great. Even easier than the old crossing. Just get to the right once you cross and you`re on your way to Ensenada couta.
Once you cross, how long till you get to the first toll booth in Playas??????
UNA MAS CERVEZA PORFAVOR, CON 5 TACOS DE TIBURON..
Leaving this Friday PM or early Saturday AM. Any word on where the immigration office is and the hours of operation? Also a bank for payment of the
FMM's? Is parking available during the transaction? Gracias.
I am two days behind boe4fun, planning to cross this Sunday and trying to figure out if I should chance attempting to get my FMM at chaparral without
any knowledge of where / how, or even if it is available there - versus cross at Otay or Tecate (although I have never crossed at either before). I
emailed Baja Bound and asked them if it was true the old San Ysidro north to south crossing would close by November 1st, and if so did they have any
info on how/where to get FMM at the new Chaparral crossing. Per their response pasted below, they have no info yet (if I get anything from them later
I will post here)
Hi Alan,
Thanks for your email.
Those are very good questions!
I'll see if we can find anything out this week and let you know.
So far the phone numbers we have for Immigration in Tijuana are not working.
Here is the latest info from Baja Bound regarding getting FMM - before November 5th it appears we could be in for a "long walk" if the old crossing is
not open when we cross:
Hi Alan,
We tracked down a phone number for Mexican Immigration at the San Ysidro crossing (Puerto Mexico).
I spoke to two different people, yesterday and today to try to get a more complete story.
At this time, the Immigration office is still at Puerto Mexico/San Ysidro. The one at El Chaparral will not open apparently until November 5th.
First a bit of background of what is going on with the crossings in my personal experience.
In the last almost week, sometimes they are:
1) Using only Puerto Mexico/San Ysidro
2) Using only El Chaparral
3) Using both
If they are only using Puerto Mexico/San Ysidro, you may cross as usual. We recommend crossing in the declaration lane since this allows you to park
easily inside the Mexican Customs (Aduana) facility. Then the Immigration office (and banks where you pay for the FMM Tourist Card) is right there
near the parking.
If they are only using El Chaparral, the Immigration officer I spoke to said to go ahead and cross, then park in the El Chaparral facility. For those
who are new to El Chaparral, it is set up differently from Puerto Mexico/San Ysidro. As soon as you cross into Mexico, the El Chaparral facility has
parking spots that you drive past. She told me you may park there and then walk to the Puerto Mexico/San Ysidro border crossing. (Ask around how to
walk back there, I'm not clear on how to find it exactly.)
If both are open, for obvious reasons it is best to cross through Puerto Mexico/San Ysidro.
I hope this is helpful! If you have any additional questions, we'll try to find out for you.
Hola, Bajaguy U2U'ed me and suggested crossing at Otay Mesa instead of Tecate and taking the Corridor 2000. My question is where do you park at Otay
while you're getting your FMM's? I don't think that there is parking on the street (too many taxi cabs) and I don't want to park in the Aduana
parking lot past the bank because I'm afraid it'll take an hour or two to get out of there. Can you park in the secondary area as soon as you cross
into Mexico? What are the hours of the Immigration Office and the bank? Thanks.
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