Update: Otay II’s truck access is open, and empty rigs are leaving Bulevar Bellas Artes

The cargo route through the future Otay II port of entry opened on schedule on Monday, Oct. 19. The first empty trailer crossed the access bridges at 5 a.m., Zeta reported, starting a first phase in which trucks hauling empty boxes reach the Otay I customs facility without using Bulevar Bellas Artes. We covered the route and the announced hours on Saturday; here’s what’s new.

• Volume: 1,000 to 1,500 empty trucks a day are expected on the route, according to San Diego Red and AFN. Alfonso Millán, the cargo truckers’ chamber (Canacar) delegate for Tijuana, Tecate and Rosarito, said the route should take at least 1,500 heavy rigs off Bellas Artes, according to Tijuana en Línea.
• Bellas Artes: the trailer counterflow lane on the boulevard is coming out, San Diego Red and AFN reported, as the goal is to return it to normal traffic.
• Loaded trucks: they’ll be added gradually once a concrete ramp is finished, expected from Oct. 30, per San Diego Red and AFN; Tijuana en Línea says late October or early November.
• The full crossing: Otay II can’t work as a binational port until the U.S. facilities are built, which San Diego Red puts at 2028 to 2030. Zeta says the current arrangement will stay in place until 2028.

Exporters welcomed the timing. Mirna Ulbrich Labastida, who heads the foreign trade committee of Index Zona Costa, the export manufacturers’ association, said the opening comes during the August-to-December export peak and should cut delivery times and the costs of border delays, San Diego Red reported.

If you drive in Otay

The changes are for cargo traffic; none of the reports mention changes for passenger cars or pedestrians at the Otay crossing. The aim is fewer trailers on Bellas Artes, but work on the route continues over the next few weeks, so allow extra time near the industrial zone and check live wait times before you cross. More border news is on our homepage.