LiveWaits / Border crossings / Passenger (Otay Mesa)
Passenger (Otay Mesa) border wait times
Passenger (Otay Mesa) is a Mexico land crossing, open 24 hrs/day. CBP is reporting on 4 lane groups here right now, and this page reads that feed directly, so the numbers change while you watch them.Passenger (Otay Mesa) on the Mexico border, live from CBP. 4 lane groups reporting now.
Only 3 of 13 car lanes are open right now.
Best time to cross
Northbound is lightest from 8 PM to 11 PM and worst around 5 AM. Typical by hour, CBP prior-year average.
Which lane should you use?
The nearest crossing
San Ysidro is about 110 minutes faster right now, 5 mi west. Worth the drive if you are not crossing on foot.
Documents you will need
Passenger (Otay Mesa) crossing, common questions
How long is the wait at Otay Mesa right now?
The figure at the top of this page is the delay CBP itself reports for passenger vehicles in the general lanes, refreshed every few minutes while the page is open. CBP measures each lane group separately, so pedestrians and trucks can be queueing very differently from cars.
Do NEXUS, SENTRI and Ready lanes actually save time here?
Where CBP staffs them, yes, and this page shows their delay side by side with the general lanes so you can see the gap today rather than in general. When a trusted traveler lane shows no reading it is closed, and the general lane is the only option.
Why does the wait jump around so much?
CBP recalculates from vehicles actually processed, and opens or closes booths through the day. A crossing can go from ten minutes to forty in one update when a lane closes, which is why a number from an hour ago is not worth much.
Related
Live from U.S. Customs and Border Protection; typical-by-hour is CBP's own prior-year average. How these numbers are made.