Border crossings › Mexico

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 vehicles, general lanes 120 min Reported by CBP at noon pdt

Readings come straight from CBP and refresh while this page is open.

Passenger vehicles

General 2 of 13 lanes open, at noon pdt 120 min
NEXUS / SENTRI 3 of 13 lanes open, at noon pdt 30 min
Ready lanes 5 of 13 lanes open, at noon pdt 90 min

Pedestrians

General 6 of 6 lanes open, at noon pdt 60 min

When to leave to cross

Work backwards from the time you need to be on the other side.

Leave by-- Across by--

Need to be across by

Drive to the border (min)

I have NEXUS, SENTRI or a Ready lane card

Crossing facts

Port of entry	Otay Mesa
Crossing	Passenger
Border	Mexico
Hours	24 hrs/day
Port status	Open
CBP port number	250601

Other crossings nearby

Other Mexico crossings CBP reports on. If one is backed up, its neighbours often are not.

San Ysidro 24 hrs/day 120 min
East (Calexico) 6 am-10 pm 90 min
West (Calexico) 24 hrs/day 90 min
Tecate 6 am-10 pm 90 min
Paso Del Norte (PDN) (El Paso) 24 hrs/day 75 min
Donna International Bridge (Progreso) 6 am-10 pm 75 min

Questions people ask

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 traveller 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.

Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection border wait times feed, read 19:24 UTC on 24 August 2026. CBP publishes these figures for the lanes it staffs; a lane showing no reading is one CBP is not reporting on right now. Page rebuilt 24 August 2026.