Morning commute times through Tijuana’s Santa Fe corridor have dropped from 45 minutes to 25 minutes after the city installed new traffic signals and deployed traffic aides at key intersections, according to the head of the Secretaría de Movilidad Urbana Sustentable (SEMOVIS), the city’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Secretariat.
The improvements target one of western Tijuana’s most chronically gridlocked corridors. Santa Fe connects a cluster of hillside subdivisions to the main urban grid, and tens of thousands of residents in neighborhoods including Urbi Quinta del Cedro, Real de San Antonio, and Vista Bella rely on its roads to reach jobs, schools, and commercial areas closer to the city center.
Resident Protests Sparked the Changes
Mayor Ismael Burgueño said the traffic improvements came in direct response to protests in March. Residents had mobilized against a proposed municipal cemetery in the Santa Fe area, arguing it would add traffic to streets already at a breaking point. The city shelved the cemetery plan and pivoted to addressing the congestion itself.
New traffic signals were installed at critical chokepoints, and trained traffic aides now manage vehicle flow during morning rush hours. The combination has cut the worst of the A.M. backup nearly in half.
Afternoon Gridlock Remains Unsolved
The relief is limited to mornings so far. Residents report that afternoon and evening congestion between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. remains severe. The reason is straightforward: traffic aides are not deployed during those hours. Without human direction at intersections, the new signals alone cannot keep up with the volume of vehicles pouring back into the subdivisions.
The city has outlined plans for longer-term fixes. New road connections through Blvd. Banderas and Blvd. Sánchez Taboada would give drivers alternate routes in and out of the Santa Fe zone. A lane expansion is also planned at the El Rosario roundabout, a notorious bottleneck where traffic backs up in both directions during peak hours.
Road Rehabilitation on the Horizon
Burgueño indicated a larger investment in road rehabilitation and paving is forthcoming for the Santa Fe area, though he did not specify a peso amount or timeline. For residents who have endured years of potholed roads and single-lane exits from their subdivisions, the current 20-minute improvement is a start.
The Santa Fe corridor’s problems are common to many of Tijuana’s rapidly developed residential zones on the city’s eastern and southern hillsides, where housing tracts were built faster than road infrastructure could keep pace.
First reported by Punto Norte on May 2, 2026.