Borderland residents facing long wait times to cross into El Paso
JUAREZ, Chihuahua (KVIA) -- The holiday season is bringing longer wait times than usual for borderland residents crossing to Juárez or El Paso every day.
Usually, people tend to cross for their jobs, school or even to visit a family member on either side of the border.
With the recent holiday shopping, people have been waiting longer than usual at the Bridge of the Americas, the Paso Del Norte Bridge, and the Ysleta-Zaragoza Bridge as well.
Some residents say they've been waiting for more than three or four hours this week.
Others have been waiting less depending on the hours they want to cross to the U.S.
ABC-7 reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to learn more about the wait times residents have been experiencing this week.
In a statement, their Public Affairs Specialist Roger Maier said:
"The holiday period is historically one of the busiest for border crossings. Traffic volumes go up and as a result, so does the time it takes to cross the border. We encourage travelers to build extra time into their trips during this period. Stores and malls, airports, and entertainment venues are busier than normal during this season and the same is true at the border ports. This should not be a surprise to anyone," said Maier.
U.S. CBP also encourages members of the public to monitor border crossing times at the CBP website and plan accordingly.
The site lists the number of open lanes and current crossing times for Ready lanes, regular lanes, and SENTRI lanes. Sometimes crossing times will be less at the outlying ports like Santa Teresa and Tornillo.
