2022 Commercial Vehicle 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.

Location

Three commercial ports-of-entry in the Cascade Gateway sytstem of border crossings: Pacific Highway, Lynden/Aldergrove, and Sumas/Abbotsford-Huntingdon

Why This Project Was Needed

To maintain a series of commercial vehicle data every five years, the Whatcom Council of Governments partnered with U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (BC MoTI), Transport Canada (TC), and the Border Policy Research (BPRI) to complete an update of regional cross-border commercial vehicle data. Data collection in the field took place in June and July 2022.

The study, as with the data studies that preceded it, updated sample datasets of border-crossing commercial vehicles, including:

• Trip origins and destinations
• Primary commodities being hauled
• Shares of empty and loaded vehicles
• Commercial vehicle classifications
• Trusted-trader program statuses
• Identification of frequent carrier companies
• Processing durations, such as inspection time and total border wait time The data collected in the field, along with supporting traffic and trade data from federal agencies, are organized for analysis in a project database to along with this project report documentation

Results

A final report is available online, and the database is available upon request.

Cost

The cost of the study was $150,000

Funding & Partnerships

• 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