Police shut down vehicle and pedestrian traffic at Otay Mesa on Wednesday morning after finding a suspicious package with wires sticking out near the southwest corner of the pedestrian bridge. The closure affected one of California's busiest border crossings and remained in effect until further notice.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria shared the
San Diego Police Department alert that the port was closed to pedestrian and vehicle crossings. Police said the item was found with wires exposed, according to
CBS 8
, and officers responded to the scene Wednesday morning to investigate. Police advised anyone attempting to cross the border to instead use the San Ysidro Port of Entry, while urging people in the immediate area to steer clear entirely and warning travelers to expect delays.
A Detour That Comes With Its Own Bottleneck
San Ysidro sits roughly six miles west of Otay Mesa. Wednesday's shutdown sent crossers toward San Ysidro, the alternative police recommended.
The stakes are high for a closure with no announced end time. The California-Mexico Border Relations Council found that Otay Mesa is California's busiest commercial land border crossing, having processed more than $22.2 billion in exports and $38.3 billion in imports in 2023.
Commuters Left Scrambling
It isn't just freight getting stuck. Personal vehicles and pedestrians also pass through Otay Mesa. A shutdown of unknown length disrupts travel for people trying to cross.
The pedestrian bridge where the package was found underwent a major federal upgrade just a few years ago. The U.S. General Services Administration completed an expansion of the Otay Mesa pedestrian facility in August 2023 that doubled the number of northbound inspection booths, adding six new booths to speed up foot traffic through the crossing.
A Border Corridor Already Under Heavy Scrutiny
Wednesday's closure lands in a stretch of border that has already seen intense federal law enforcement activity this year. In June, federal prosecutors charged four people after Homeland Security task force agents uncovered a 1,933-foot cross-border drug tunnel running from Tijuana into a commercial warehouse near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, a bust that also netted more than a ton of seized cocaine, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. It's the kind of security backdrop that keeps officers on edge around the crossing's perimeter.
San Diego police and federal bomb technicians have handled similar scares before. In January, the SDPD Bomb Squad joined the FBI and ATF in responding to a suspicious device in downtown San Diego, setting up street closures and safety perimeters before determining the object was not explosive. That response reflects how local and federal teams routinely coordinate on high-risk calls across the county.
Plans for a Separate Otay Mesa East Crossing Advance
During Wednesday's closure, travelers were directed to San Ysidro, while Tecate and CBX are also available alternatives.
Crossing Volumes, Future Plans and Past Closures
According to Border Report, Smart Border Coalition figures for the first four months of 2024 showed almost 8 million crossings at San Ysidro and 3.3 million at Otay Mesa, counting people traveling by car and on foot—not commercial traffic. Separately, SANDAG’s FY 2024 annual report says the SR 11/Otay Mesa East Port of Entry project completed construction on the Siempre Viva Interchange, executed three binational agreements and reached the 30% design milestone. The report does not give an expected capacity or opening date. A different kind of disruption occurred in 2023: U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it would suspend San Ysidro’s Pedestrian West crossing beginning Dec. 9 to redirect personnel to assist Border Patrol with migrant processing, while opening as many lanes as possible at Pedestrian East and Otay Mesa. That operational change was distinct from Wednesday’s suspicious-package closure.
