Slow run to the border

  Add this to your weekend traffic woes:

All vehicle and pedestrian traffic at San Ysidro’s border crossings may be blocked Friday during demonstrations in Mexico over that country’s pension laws, U.S. authorities said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday urged travelers to avoid the border crossings during the protests, citing Mexican news reports that traffic in both directions may be blocked for up to six hours at San Ysidro, the nation’s busiest border crossing, and at Otay Mesa. (AP)

The California Highway Patrol plans to close all southbound traffic on interstates 5 and 805 just north of the San Ysidro crossing at 8:30 a.m. Friday. CBP will close the crossing’s pedestrian bridge.

State Highway 905 southbound lanes near the Otay Mesa crossing may also close, CBP said.

Cargo traffic at the Otay Mesa is unlikely to be affected, CBP said.

In June, about 10,000 demonstrators in Mexico briefly blocked traffic between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. The demonstrators, many of them teachers, protested a Mexican law passed earlier this year that raises the retirement age for workers to 60 from 50 and introduces individual retirement savings accounts for government workers.

An average of about 30,000 pedestrians, 35,000 vehicles and 250 buses enter the U.S. each day at San Ysidro, making it the country’s busiest crossing by far.