Whatcom Council of Governments

IMTC Pacific Highway Commercial Vehicle Operations Evaluation Study

This project was jointly funded by Transport Canada, U.S. Federal Highway Administration, and Western Washington University to look at commercial vehicle operations at the Pacific Highway port-of-entry in 2006 and compare border processing of trucks with survey results from 2002.

The 2002 Pacific Highway ITS Deployment Evaluation Study

This original study was sponsored by U.S. Federal Highway Administration and completed by SAIC and TSi Consultants to evaluate the potential benefits of ITS deployment at the Pacific Highway port-of-entry. The study specifically looked at current delay and estimated future delay with and without the addition of an electronic commercial vehicle processing lane such as a FAST (Free and Secure Trade)Program lane.

The 2002 study concluded that substantial benefits could be achieved if even 15 percent of commercial vehicles crossing at Pacific Highway were to use a specialized ITS lane.

Changes at Pacific Highway Since 2002

Since the original study, many changes have impacted the movement and processing of commercial vehicles through Pacific Highway:

1. Advanced cargo information is now required, meaning that trucks no longer park in the parking lot and file their paperwork with brokers at the site. Paperwork must be received by U.S. Customs and Border Protection a full hour in advance of the truck (or 30 minutes prior to arrival if the truck is in the FAST program).
2. Electronically-filed manifests are now mandatory, although at the time of the survey in 2006, e-manifests were still optional. However many carriers were choosing to use this method to file.
3. The FAST lane has been operational, with its own alignment and a dedicated booth, since the last study.
4. Southbound infrastructure changes have altered the way trucks queue at the border, providing better separation of commercial and passenger vehicles and streamlining traffic.
5. Radiation portal monitors have been installed ahead of the primary booths southbound, which alter the queuing dynamics by slowing the transition time between trucks and increasing total primary processing time.
6. The ACE portal is being used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to process vehicles at the primary booths. This data entry system is different than what was being used in 2002.

The 2006 Survey

Given the changes at Pacific Highway since 2002, IMTC participants were interested in seeing if the border wait times have improved five years after the original study and after substantial investments in infrastructure improvements. The study examined changes in queueing patterns, travel delay, and processing times at the border, and also attempted to attribute any improvements to discreet projects or initiatives at the border. The study also collected data to be used for ongoing modeling efforts and to develop a baseline for future project monitoring.

Initial results show that the new alignment of southbound B.C. Highway 15 has improved overall travel time for FAST-approved trucks using the ITS lane. For other trucks, however, through-border travel time has decreased, despite roadway improvements.

Despite the fact that the number of commercial vehicles crossing the border are down 13 percent since 2002, border crossings take more time. This is predominantly due to longer primary booth processing times, which have increased by 110 percent since 2002.

A full analysis of results is available in the final report.

For More Information

Contact: Hugh Conroy, Whatcom Council of Governments, (360) 676-6974 or Chris Hoff, Transport Canada, (604) 312-8191.