This is attributed in part to the fact that reaching the crossing on the US side requires driving on narrow, winding mountain roads.

The original port of entry was established sometime prior to 1919 to inspect the traffic traveling from Tecate, Baja California, in large part to shop at the Thing Brothers store (later the Johnson store) on the US side of the border.

[1] The current historic border inspection station (where pedestrians continue to be inspected) was built in 1933; this building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Vehicular traffic is now inspected in a new facility attached to the rear of the historic port.

The expanded port cost US$18 million and had approximately five times as much space as the original 1933 facility.