Sentri Pass thread

[Baja_Traveler]

Ok - yet another post on the merits of going through the hassle of obtaining a card.

Came home from our Gonzaga trip yesterday (Memorial Day), and never in my life have I seen so many California and Arizona plates on the road - all heading the same direction for the border. At one point in the twisties down by rio Hardy there was a 75 car backup behind a motorhome, all gringos with kayaks and offroad vehicles of every sort in tow. I knew right then the border was going to be a disaster, and taking the Mexicali II crossing was the better option.

(For those that do not know, to get to that crossing you take a right at the light immediately after the underpass tunnel, then just follow that road as it meanders north/east until you see the border wall - then turn right. 1 3/4 miles down is the crossing, which is 7 miles east of Mexicali I.)

As soon as I made my right, the line of cars began. I couldn't believe that there was a 2 mile line, so I bypassed them all and cruised down to the crossing. At the left turn to the border crossing the Mexicali police were directing all the mayhem, and the middle lane I was in turned out to be a turn lane. They waved me through right into the Sentri lane and I drove past 100 or so more cars to the end of my line. I checked the clock - 12:03, and while I made my way up front, started deleting the 130 or so junk emails off my phone that had accumulated over the 5 days I was gone. I couldn't even finish the last 20 before I hit the booth - declared my Honey from the San Felipe honey man and I was through. Checked the clock - 12:13.

10 minutes to cross on one of the busiest days of the year - I'll bet I was in Alpine before the regular folk finally got across...

[Mahigeer]

Thanks for the post.

I have been looking at the satellite picture and it seems that there is bottle neck area.

It looks to me that for a while one must be in a common line then a separate Sentri lane is accessible. Am I seeing correctly?

[Baja_Traveler]

It looks like a bottleneck on the map also, but in reality they are separate lanes all the way through from the beginning. I think the gap comes from a separate lane coming in from the east that meets up with the west lanes.

[Mahigeer]

Thanks for the reply.

[makobob]

Came through today at 10am, west entrance, Sentri stopped with longer line then regular lanes. But took only 9 minutes to cross, three lanes for Sentri were open and only 30 seconds at the booth. Is it worth the hassle, YOU BETTER BELIVE IT.