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Is it possible to go through the Otay crossing (one of three ports of entry (POE) in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region) as a pedestrian without taking any stair (e.g., in case of wheelchair or heavy luggage)?

From what I recall last time I crossed there, I crossed a bridge (which goes over the cars queuing to enter Mexico) and went through some stairs to enter and exit the bridge. Is there some way around it?

Bridge:

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View from bridge:

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Stairs:

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    Been a long time since I walked south at Otay, but I'm 99% sure there were ramps everywhere there were stairs. Pretty standard for US govt I think? I crossed there in Oct of last year (2019) pulling luggage with an injured back. I don't recall having to lift up/down stairs for any of the walk. The only thing I recall being a problem is I got stuck in that rotating gate, and boy did that hurt!
    – Midavalo
    Nov 22, 2020 at 22:21
  • @Midavalo I have the same prior, but I totally forgot. The view of the grill wall/door on the last picture concerns me a bit though, since I don't think one can go through the grill door with a wheelchair. But maybe there is a normal door on the right? or somewhere else?
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Nov 22, 2020 at 22:25
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    I think a wheelchair would possibly be fine through the gate, but I haven't actually seen that. I don't believe there is any other kind of gate/door access there (I would expect this to be manned, and I don't think this crossing is manned at that point.)
    – Midavalo
    Nov 22, 2020 at 22:32
  • @Midavalo same I don't recall any seeing any official at this stage.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Nov 22, 2020 at 22:35

1 Answer 1

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There are ramps to/from the bridge over the freeway.

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Ramp up to bridge:

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Ramp down:

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The rotating gate might seem like an obstacle, but I believe it is quite large/wide. There are a lot of people who pass through these with large parcels, crates, trolleys, luggage, strollers, etc. I imagine a wheelchair should be fine but I haven't seen anyone pass through with these.

Here is a screenshot from Google Street View showing the gate. That could be another gate to the left of the fence, but it doesn't look like that actually has access from the ramp.

enter image description here

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    @FranckDernoncourt I actually think this gate is larger than it appears. Same kinds of gate at the San Ysidro PedEast which has tens of thousands of pedestrians through every day, many carrying a lot of oversized luggage, etc. Remember this gate is still in the US (actual border still about 30 metres away) so I'd imagine would comply with accessibility requirements.
    – Midavalo
    Nov 22, 2020 at 22:40
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    But that all said, you'd certainly want to know for sure before you tried it. I'll see if I can find someone here in MX who has experience
    – Midavalo
    Nov 22, 2020 at 22:41
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    Got it, I'll try to recall to take a tape next time I go through it :) thanks for proposing, no need to bother your friends, my use case is the heavy suitcase, so this one I'm sure it'll get through it.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Nov 22, 2020 at 22:43
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    @FranckDernoncourt Just line yourself (and the bag) up with the gate properly and you'll have no trouble with a large/heavy suitcase. My issue was I wasn't paying attention and got the suitcase caught on the metal of the gate and it stopped suddenly, which was painful. We went through with many large suitcases and boxes and didn't have any issue. I've seen trolleys full of boxes get negotiated through too
    – Midavalo
    Nov 22, 2020 at 22:45
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    @nanoman you mean dressed with spy suit, dark sunglasses and Midavalo annotated satellites images? unlikely
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Nov 23, 2020 at 7:49

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