Independent editorial resource
Laredo border wait-time radar: methodology
How the Laredo wait-time radar works: CBP source, 20-minute collection, verified bridge registry, 8-week same-hour baseline, thresholds and limitations.
This page documents, precisely and against the code as actually implemented, how the Laredo commercial border wait-time radar is built. Anything not described here as live is not live.
Methodology version
v1.0 · Last reviewed: 2026-07-15 · Changes: initial published version (source, verified crossing registry, 8-week baseline, thresholds and limitations).
Changes to thresholds, statistic or lookback window will bump this version and be listed here.
Data source
- Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Wait Times (public JSON feed; CBP also offers official RSS/XML). Figures are CBP estimates provided "as is"; CBP's documented update cadence is roughly hourly.
- Collection: an automated worker polls the feed every 20 minutes and stores one row per crossing and lane type (commercial standard, commercial FAST, passenger) for Mexican-border ports. Series started June 16, 2026.
- Live page: build-time snapshot + in-browser refresh every 5 minutes through our own proxy; on proxy failure the snapshot is kept.
Verified crossing registry
Each crossing's identity was verified against primary sources and against our own data series (4+ weeks, ~1,954 observations per lane). CBP port code in parentheses.
| Feed name | Official name | Function | Publishes commercial wait? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridge I (230401) | Gateway to the Americas International Bridge | Pedestrian / limited passenger | No (never observed) |
| Bridge II (230402) | Juárez–Lincoln International Bridge | Passenger (primary POV crossing) | No (never observed) |
| Colombia Solidarity (230403) | Laredo–Colombia Solidarity International Bridge | Commercial freight (alternative) + passenger | Yes (hours: 8 am-Midnight) |
| World Trade Bridge (230404) | World Trade International Bridge | Commercial freight (cargo-only; no POV) | Yes (hours: 7 am-Midnight) |
Empirical evidence: Bridge I and Bridge II published no commercial values in any observation of the period; World Trade Bridge published no passenger values. That is why the freight signal uses only Colombia Solidarity and World Trade Bridge.
Data processing
- Timestamps: two per row — CBP's port-local time (source) and our UTC collection time. Weekday and local hour derive from the CBP timestamp.
- Duplicates: not removed; every cycle inserts a sample even if the value is unchanged (rows are periodic samples, not events).
- Missing/closed: when CBP publishes no number, the value is stored empty with the textual status ("Lanes Closed", "N/A"). Empty values are excluded from baselines.
- Stale values: there is currently no frozen-value detection; repeated CBP figures are ingested as-is (known limitation).
- Retention: indefinite; no data purged.
Baseline methodology
- Comparison: same weekday and same local hour, per crossing and lane.
- Lookback: rolling 8 weeks.
- Statistic: arithmetic mean of valued observations. Median and p75/p90 are not in production (reserved fields).
- Timezone: local hour computed with America/Chicago (Laredo, TX).
- Minimum samples: under 6 samples a bucket reports "insufficient data"; under 24 it is flagged preliminary.
- Anomaly signal: severe if the current wait is ≥ 120 min or ≥ 2.5× the bucket mean; elevated if ≥ 75 min or ≥ 1.7×; otherwise normal. Fixed editorial thresholds (not percentile-based).
- Summary card (independent of the baseline): ≥90 min = Severe; ≥45 = Elevated; 0–44 = Normal; closed/no data = Limited data with operating-hours context.
Limitations
- CBP figures are estimates and may change or pause without notice.
- The series starts June 16, 2026; baselines are preliminary until buckets reach ~8 weeks of samples.
- Gaps can occur (collector or source outages); no frozen-value detection.
- Mean (not median) is used; sensitive to spikes at low sample counts.
- ammex.org.mx is independent and not affiliated with CBP or DHS. This radar is not operational, customs, legal or dispatch advice — always verify with CBP before deciding.