El Paso Bridge of the Americas (BOTA) border wait times

How long the line is to enter the United States at El Paso Bridge of the Americas (BOTA), from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua into El Paso, Texas, by car and on foot, as U.S. Customs and Border Protection posts it, and the hours it’s usually shortest. In Mexico it’s called Puente Libre (Córdova–de las Américas).

En español →

Cars, standard lanes: 45 min
Cars, Ready Lane: 42 min
Walking, standard lanes: 3 min
Walking, Ready Lane: Closed
Posted by CBP: Oct 30, 6:00 AM MDT

Copied Oct 30, 2026, 7:48 AM Michigan time. With JavaScript on, the waits above refresh from CBP when the page opens.

Open 24 hours. Up to 14 car lanes. Up to 4 pedestrian lanes. CBP port number 240201.

CBP’s notice: BOTA Passenger/Ready Lanes is open west side of port; Passenger Hrs 24 hours/7days, BOTA CARGO Mon-FRI 6 am to 4 pm. SAT/SUN CLOSED. Tune into AM 1610 for info.

Best and worst times to cross

By car (standard lanes), usually quickest on Wednesday at 2 AM (3 min on average); usually slowest on Saturday at 5 PM (88 min on average).

On foot, usually quickest on Tuesday at 2 AM (no wait); usually slowest on Sunday at 9 PM (48 min).

Every lane Now and usually

Lane	Now	Open	Usual	Readings, 30 days
Cars, standard lanes	45 min	3	51 min	460
Cars, Ready Lane	42 min	6	49 min	447
Walking, standard lanes	3 min	4	4 min	449
Walking, Ready Lane	Closed	—	4 min	89

“Usual” is the average over the last 30 days; where it says CBP, it’s CBP’s own published average for October, from the year before, because there aren’t enough readings here yet. SENTRI is CBP’s trusted-traveler lane; the Ready Lane is for travelers carrying an RFID-enabled document (a passport card, a border crossing card, an enhanced driver’s license). First reading on record: Sep 14, 2026.

By car: usual wait by day and hour Cars, standard lanes, last 30 days, minutes

Hour	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
12 AM	·	·	·	15	·	70	25
1 AM	51	7	5	11	6	·	57
2 AM	72	5	3	6	6	16	40
3 AM	46	8	9	7	8	6	40
4 AM	49	15	19	15	15	·	60
5 AM	48	37	34	31	43	20	6
6 AM	75	40	48	42	43	30	70
7 AM	50	49	51	52	45	45	30
8 AM	50	34	62	57	68	54	14
9 AM	56	65	71	70	75	45	30
10 AM	60	38	63	64	73	50	48
11 AM	50	30	59	61	66	55	56
12 PM	45	28	59	52	62	68	67
1 PM	50	58	53	50	57	70	78
2 PM	55	47	55	44	60	78	72
3 PM	68	50	53	50	65	84	76
4 PM	72	52	59	54	72	82	80
5 PM	66	62	59	67	78	88	82
6 PM	55	55	45	59	76	83	85
7 PM	61	46	44	59	80	75	81
8 PM	65	48	38	56	75	78	80
9 PM	38	51	50	50	74	85	84
10 PM	10	45	41	35	43	79	69
11 PM	21	34	38	36	44	75	76

Under 10 min
10–29 min
30–59 min
60–89 min
90 min or more

A dot is an hour with no readings: the lane was closed or CBP posted no wait. A closed lane counts as unknown, not as zero, so it never makes a crossing look faster than it is. Average over the last 30 days: 51 min, from 460 readings.

On foot: usual wait by day and hour Walking, standard lanes, last 30 days, minutes

Hour	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
12 AM	·	·	·	5	·	10	5
1 AM	2	2	0	1	1	·	3
2 AM	4	0	1	1	2	5	5
3 AM	2	1	0	1	1	2	2
4 AM	2	1	1	2	1	·	5
5 AM	2	2	2	2	2	5	2
6 AM	5	3	6	4	4	5	4
7 AM	5	6	4	6	2	0	3
8 AM	2	32	6	4	6	2	2
9 AM	3	5	5	5	5	5	0
10 AM	4	5	5	6	8	8	2
11 AM	4	5	6	6	10	5	1
12 PM	3	2	6	5	5	5	1
1 PM	5	4	6	5	3	5	1
2 PM	25	5	5	6	9	5	1
3 PM	3	5	5	6	7	10	1
4 PM	1	8	5	6	8	5	2
5 PM	7	4	5	3	6	15	4
6 PM	0	5	2	3	4	18	6
7 PM	4	3	2	3	3	4	12
8 PM	4	3	3	3	4	4	12
9 PM	3	3	4	2	3	5	48
10 PM	1	3	1	2	3	6	2
11 PM	1	2	4	2	2	6	7

Under 10 min
10–29 min
30–59 min
60–89 min
90 min or more

Nearby crossings right now If this one is backed up

Crossing	By car	On foot	Posted
El Paso Paso del Norte Bridge	1 min	15 min	Oct 30, 5:00 AM MDT
El Paso Stanton Street Bridge	Pending	—	—
El Paso Ysleta Bridge	5 min	5 min	Oct 30, 5:00 AM MDT
Columbus	5 min	No wait	Oct 30, 5:00 AM MDT
Marcelino Serna – Tornillo	Pending	Pending	—
Presidio	10 min	No wait	Oct 30, 7:00 AM CDT
Santa Teresa	Pending	Pending	—

By car and on foot: each crossing’s main lane, nearly always the standard lanes.

By car, by hour of day All days, last 30 days

Hour	Average	Bar
12 AM	37 min
1 AM	23 min
2 AM	17 min
3 AM	17 min
4 AM	25 min
5 AM	33 min
6 AM	50 min
7 AM	48 min
8 AM	52 min
9 AM	64 min
10 AM	59 min
11 AM	56 min
12 PM	55 min
1 PM	58 min
2 PM	56 min
3 PM	62 min
4 PM	66 min
5 PM	70 min
6 PM	64 min
7 PM	64 min
8 PM	63 min
9 PM	59 min
10 PM	50 min
11 PM	48 min

The last 7 days Cars, standard lanes · Fri, Oct 23 to Fri, Oct 30

95 min0

Gaps are hours the lane was closed or posted nothing.

Common questions El Paso Bridge of the Americas (BOTA)

How long is the wait at El Paso Bridge of the Americas (BOTA) right now?

At CBP’s last reading (Oct 30, 6:00 AM MDT), the line by car (standard lanes) was 45 min, and on foot 3 min. The box at the top refreshes from CBP when you open this page.

What’s the best time to cross?

Over the last 30 days, the car line has usually been shortest on Wednesday at 2 AM and longest on Saturday at 5 PM. On foot it’s usually shortest on Tuesday at 2 AM. The heat map above shows every hour.

Is the Ready Lane faster?

Over the last 30 days the Ready Lane averaged 49 min, against 51 min in the standard lanes. It’s for cars where every traveler carries an RFID-enabled document.

When is it open?

24 hours a day.

For trucks, the commercial lane waits have a board of their own.

About these numbers

Copied Oct 30, 2026, 7:48 AM Michigan time

Officers at each port of entry post every lane’s wait about once an hour to CBP’s Border Wait Times system. A small Cloudflare Worker reads it every half hour and keeps each reading once; the last-30-days averages come from that record. The averages from the year before are CBP’s own.

Times are the crossing’s local time. A closed lane or a pending reading counts as unknown, never as zero. The board has every crossing right now and how it all works, and the data is a CSV download. Esta página en español.

Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection; readings from September 13 to October 20, 2026 as saved by gptcbp/border-crossing-data. The numbers are public; any mistakes in presenting them are mine.