The Tecate Port of Entry is one three ports of entry in the
San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region. The land port is located between
Tecate, California
Tecate is an unincorporated community in the Mountain Empire area of southeastern San Diego County, California, directly adjacent to the Mexican city of Tecate, Baja California. The area is best known for its border crossing between the Unite ...
in
San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...
's
Mountain Empire
The Mountain Empire is a rural area in southeastern San Diego County, California. The Mountain Empire subregion consists of the backcountry communities in southeastern San Diego County. The area is also sometimes considered part of the East Coun ...
and
Tecate Municipality in
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
. It connects
California State Route 188 with Paseo Lázaro Cárdenas, a spur of
Mexico Federal Highway 2, as well as
Federal Highway 3 to the south. It is a minor port in comparison to the larger
San Ysidro Port of Entry
__NOTOC__
The San Ysidro Port of Entry (aka San Ysidro Land Port of Entry or San Ysidro LPOE) is the largest land border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, and the fourth- busiest land border crossing in the world (second-busiest if one exclu ...
and
Otay Mesa Port of Entry. This is attributed in part to the fact that reaching the crossing on the US side requires driving on narrow, winding mountain roads.
History
The original port of entry was established sometime prior to 1919 to inspect the traffic traveling from
Tecate, BC Mexico in large part to shop at the Thing Brothers store (later the Johnson store) on the US side of the border. The current historic border inspection station (where pedestrians continue to be inspected) was built in 1933; this building was listed on the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1992. In 2005 the port was re-opened as an expansion project was completed. Vehicular traffic is now inspected in a new facility attached to the rear of the historic port. The expanded port cost US$18 million and had approximately five times as much space as the original 1933 facility.
See also
*
List of Mexico–United States border crossings
There are 50 places where people can legally cross the Mexico–United States border. Several large border cities have multiple crossings, often including one or more that bypass the center of the city and are designated for truck traffic. For p ...
*
List of Canada–United States border crossings
This article includes lists of border crossings, ordered from west to east (north to south for Alaska crossings), along the International Boundary between Canada and the United States. Each port of entry (POE) in the tables below links to an art ...
References
External links
Otay Mesa Land Port of Entry Fact Sheet
{{San Diego–Tijuana
Ports of Entry in San Diego–Tijuana
National Register of Historic Places in San Diego County, California
Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California