Local resident creates real-time crossing estimates platform for border bridges

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A new border monitoring platform, "Fila de Puentes," provides live wait-time estimates at international bridges, compiled from U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, community reports, and other official sources.

José Andrés Meza Parra is from Juárez and lived on the border all his life. He started Fila de Puentes nearly a year ago, looking to help people like him who cross the border every day.

Meza's ultimate goal is for people to save time before heading to the international bridges and to know which bridges have a shorter wait to cross.

This website provides real-time traffic tracking across international bridge lanes, showing current wait times -- even in other U.S.-Mexico border regions.

The tracking service also monitors 32 live crossings across 11 border cities from Tijuana to Matamoros. It incorporates lane-by-lane estimates, Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI) lane status, live video feeds and community input to help drivers compare conditions across bridges.

The platform also embeds live video camera feeds at key locations, including the Paso del Norte Bridge (PDN, Santa Fe), the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA), Ysleta-Zaragoza, and Stanton-Lerdo. It also offers an interactive virtual assistant, Fili IA, to answer questions about crossing.

In the Juárez–El Paso region, data on the platform show heavy traffic at several major bridges.

Friday, the Paso del Norte Bridge recorded the longest wait time at 75 minutes, followed by the Ysleta-Zaragoza Bridge at 69 minutes and the Puente Libre (BOTA), at 60 minutes.

The Jerónimo-Santa Teresa bridge showed a 55-minute wait time, while Tornillo recorded a 15-minute delay. The Lerdo bridge, which serves SENTRI traffic only, shows a one-minute wait time.

Beyond the Juárez–El Paso area, the platform provides tracking for 26 additional border crossings; covered locations include:

• San Diego–Tijuana

• Laredo–Nuevo Laredo

• Calexico–Mexicali

• Brownsville–Matamoros

• McAllen–Reynosa

• Nogales

• Eagle Pass–Piedras Negras

• Del Río–Ciudad Acuña

• Douglas–Agua Prieta

• Progreso–Nuevo Progreso.

If you cross the border daily and want to know how to save some time doing that, you can watch the full story tonight on ABC-7 at 5 and 6.