Say Bye to Tijuana’s Turnstile Entryway

Banners were hung about various pedestrian pathways into Mexico, warning border crossers that a change was going to come.

On September 24, pedestrians were re-routed from the long-familiar spinning gates located on the west side of I-5 to a somewhat complex and confusing route back behind the old U.S. Customs building and then back into Mexico.

In a recent post, this reporter pointed out that a new road running parallel to the border fence will bring auto traffic from I-5 westward to the soon-to-be-finished El Chaparral Mexican border station; thus, there is quite a bit of road construction going on where pedestrians once tread. Eventually, it appears that pedestrian traffic entering Mexico will also be routed into the same new facility via a pedestrian bridge (under construction at present) on the Mexican side of the border.

The new route, according to the signage and an announcement in Tijuana's daily Frontera, will lead folks entering Mexico from San Ysidro from the trolley terminus back behind the Mercado Internacional, which essentially runs parallel to the McDonald’s and back into Mexico alongside the New Deal–era U.S. Customs House.

Apparently, the old spinning gates into Mexico will be permanently closed, as vehicle traffic will now ply that crossing. The turnstiles will cease their revolutions on September 27.