LAREDO, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would like to advise of a temporary change to the routing of bicycle traffic that will help enable completion of a pedestrian primary inspection area that will help facilitate traffic flow. The change, which takes effect this week, will temporarily impact pedestrian, bicycle traffic for a period of three weeks.
“Starting on Wednesday morning, July 27, 2016, bicyclists will not be able to ride their bicycles across the bridge’s vehicular lanes for three weeks,” said (A) Port Director Albert Flores, Laredo Port of Entry. “The construction phase will develop a new temporary pedestrian primary inspection area at the Gateway to the Americas Bridge and will make this processing area functional.”
Bicyclists who cross the bridge will have to walk alongside the pedestrians who enter the U.S. via the pedestrian walkway. Bicyclists will veer off to the bicycle lane as soon as they reach the primary inspection area.
CBP also encourages travelers to utilize our Ready Lanes and obtain a radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled travel document such as the U.S. passport card or Trusted Traveler Program card (NEXUS, SENTRI, Global Entry or FAST/EXPRES) to expedite their entry and make future border crossings more efficient.
CBP also advises the public to utilize the smart phone Border Wait Times (BWT) App to monitor the border wait times, which are updated on an hourly basis. Members of the traveling public can monitor Border Wait Times via the website or also obtain the BWT app on their smartphone via Apple App Store and Google Play so that they can observe the wait times and make an informed decision on which bridge to use.
CBP reminds the public that they may utilize the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge as an alternate route to avoid heavy traffic.