CESPT (Tijuana’s state water utility) will close a section of Boulevard Gustavo Díaz Ordaz tonight, Wednesday, March 18, for emergency water main repairs. The closure runs from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. Thursday morning, blocking traffic on one of the city’s busiest corridors near the Presa Rodríguez area.
What Drivers Need to Know
The 10-hour shutdown targets the Presa-Morelos water line near the Abelardo L. Rodríguez Treatment Plant. CESPT and municipal traffic officials are directing drivers to use alternate routes via Calle Guadalupe and Calle Rincón to bypass the work zone.
Because the closure falls between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., most of the disruption will hit late-night commuters and early-morning traffic. Boulevard Díaz Ordaz is a primary commercial and residential thoroughfare running through central Tijuana, connecting the Zona Río district to neighborhoods south of the Presa Rodríguez dam. Traffic control officers will be posted at detour points.
A Familiar Problem on Díaz Ordaz
The boulevard has a history of water infrastructure emergencies. In September 2025, a massive rupture in the Florido-Aguaje aqueduct on Díaz Ordaz near the Terrazas de la Presa neighborhood opened a large sinkhole. That break left 632 neighborhoods in Tijuana and Playas de Rosarito without water for at least three days, forced school closures, and sent millions of gallons of water into the Tijuana River.
In March 2022, CESPT also repaired a leak on Díaz Ordaz as part of a broader maintenance shutdown that cut water service to roughly 1.6 million residents across Tijuana and Rosarito for 24 hours. And in July 2024, a storm drain repair on the same boulevard forced a daytime closure near the junction with Boulevard Federico Benítez.
Tonight’s repair is far smaller in scope. CESPT has described it as a targeted fix on the Presa-Morelos line, with no announced interruption to residential water service. Still, anyone driving through the Presa Rodríguez area between Wednesday night and Thursday morning should plan an alternate route. The work is scheduled to wrap up by 8 a.m. Thursday, according to Punto Norte.