Border securityNew app cuts travelers wait times at U.S. border crossings
Nearly 340,000 people travel every day through the San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, and Tecate border crossings linking California and Mexico’s Baja California; more than eight million trips across the border are lost because travelers are unwilling to deal with the congestion and an average wait time of forty-five minutes; a new app addresses the problem
“A gem of an app.” “Clean UI [user interface], very easy to use.” “Eliminates the guess work!”
These are a few of the early online reviews from users of a new Android mobile app that helps motorists figure out the best time to enter the United States at crossings from Mexico and Canada.
“Best Time to Cross the Border” is a new service that is accessible on the Web, and also as an Android app via the Android Market (aka Google Play). Border crossers can also search for the Android app under the name “Best Time to Cross the Border” in the Google Play store.
A University of California-San Diego release reports that the new service is the product of engineers and computer-science students at the University of California, San Diego, who work in the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). The free app builds on other services that Calit2 offers free of charge to the public, including the California Wireless Traffic Report, which facilitates access to information on commuting times in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego County.
“Travelers routinely run into traffic jams getting into the United States, especially from the most popular crossing points with Mexico,” said Ganz Chockalingam, a principal development engineer at Calit2 and lead developer on the project. “You may not be able to reduce the congestion, but with a little help from our app, you can make an informed decision about when and where you want to cross the border if time is a factor.”
According to a study by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and Caltrans, nearly 340,000 people travel every day through the San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, and Tecate border crossings linking California and Mexico’s Baja California. The study estimates that more than eight million trips across the border are lost because travelers are unwilling to deal with the congestion and an average wait time of forty-five minutes. “This equates to a loss of nearly $1.3 billion in potential revenues, mostly in the retail sector,” SANDAG concluded. “Excessive border waits also are affecting overall regional productivity,” pushing the San Diego region’s total economic loss as high as $2.5 billion each year. In addition, the typical two-hour delays facing trucks at commercial crossings into San Diego County cost the county $455 million in annual revenue from reduced freight activity.
Border wait times are compiled by the
