Ensenada’s restaurant and hospitality industry is warning that deteriorating roads across the city are driving away tourists and strangling local businesses. Iván Nolasco Cruz, a representative of CANIRAC (the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry), said roughly 95% of tourists and business travelers arrive in Ensenada by road, and many now face severe congestion and crumbling infrastructure at multiple entry points.
Nolasco Cruz described traffic flow at several key corridors as near collapse, with bottlenecks forming during weekends and major events. The warning carries particular weight because Ensenada depends heavily on road-trip visitors from Tijuana, Rosarito, and Southern California who drive down on the toll road or the free highway.
A Long History of Road Problems
Road infrastructure has been a sore spot for Ensenada for more than a decade. In 2013, a massive landslide destroyed a section of the scenic Tijuana-Ensenada toll highway near Salsipuedes Bay, forcing all traffic onto the old two-lane free road. Repairs cost nearly one billion pesos (about $80 million USD at the time) and took over a year. Engineers from the Ensenada College of Civil Engineers have warned that the geology in that area remains unstable. According to federal records, the Tijuana-Ensenada highway ranks third in Mexico for major maintenance costs, with spending concentrated at Kilometer 92 near the old collapse zone.
The problems extend beyond the toll road. A recent opinion piece in Sandiegored noted that working-class neighborhoods in Ensenada lack basic services, with roads full of potholes, while the city government focuses promotional energy on Valle de Guadalupe wine country tourism. Critics have accused Mayor Claudia Agatón Muñiz of prioritizing glossy tourism campaigns over bread-and-butter infrastructure.
What This Means for Drivers
For anyone planning a road trip to Ensenada’s wine country, port area, or restaurant scene, the message from CANIRAC is clear: expect delays. Weekend traffic into and around the city can be especially heavy, and deteriorating road surfaces add to travel times. Drivers coming from Tijuana on the toll road (Highway 1D) or the free road (Highway 1) should budget extra time, particularly during holiday weekends and festival periods.
CANIRAC’s public pressure on local government could eventually push infrastructure investment forward, but Nolasco Cruz made clear that conditions on the ground remain difficult now. The business group is calling on municipal and state authorities to prioritize road repairs before more visitors are lost to frustration.
The story was first reported by Ensenada.net.