2015-2016 Border Freight Operations Study

IMTC participants have identified the need to periodically evaluate commercial vehicle operations (CVO) at the Cascade Gateway’s three ports-of-entry as a priority for informing regional investment strategies, and to analyze the impacts of changes to road and inspection systems.

This effort was identified by IMTC participants as a priority project.  It is being performed jointly by The Whatcom Council of Governments (WCOG) partnered with the Border Policy Research Institute (BPRI) at Western Washington University, and conducted with coordination and support from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Canada Border Services Agency, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation, and the WA State Department of Transportation.

An integrated data collection and synthesis effort focused on weekday vehicle observations and driver interviews at each of the regional commercial crossings. Field data was complemented with other sources including vehicle detectors, inspection agency system time stamps, carrier company interviews, and U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics Transborder Database.

Field data was collected the summer of 2015 and  2016 to allow before-and-after comparisons of newly opened commercial facilities at Aldergrove (northbound), anticipated installation of a metered arrival system for northbound trucks at Pacific Highway, and the degree of route shifting at all three commercial ports subsequent to these changes to the regional cross-border transportation system.

Data from both field efforts are now available. The final compilation of study products is here.

Funding & Partnerships

This project was funded by:

• U.S. Federal Highway Administration: $120,000
• Transport Canada: $11,250
• B.C. Ministry of Transportation: $11,250
• Border Policy Research Institute, WWU: $7,500