Cascade Gateway Circulation Analysis
The Cascade Gateway is the set of four land-border ports-of-entry (POEs) that connect Western Washington State and Lower Mainland British Columbia. In addition to serving local travel and trade in this binational region, the major highway routes that transit the Cascade Gateway include U.S. Interstate 5, B.C. Highway 99, and the TransCanada 1 highway.
The Cascade Gateway region is growing and developing quickly. Regional travel, cross-border travel, and cross-border truck-borne trade combine and result in frequent congestion of border crossings and the roads that serve them.
The road network that serves the Cascade Gateway is much more a north-south system than an east-west system. Current conditions motivate interest in studying the benefits of improving east-west connections:
- Advances in real-time traveler and commercial-driver information enable drivers to respond to varying border-crossing times and corridor travel-times.
- More complete deployment of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), for both travelers and commercial vehicles, will be an important component of improving Cascade Gateway circulation.
- Border inspection agency operational changes are affecting the way travelers and commercial-drivers choose cross-border routes.
- In the face of quickening development, it is important to identify the most logical east-west routes, if improvement is not required today, at least identify actions to preserve right-of-way for future needs.
Analysis Objectives
This study will cooperatively assess the need for and benefits of improvements to an east-west network of transportation connections that serve forecast travel around and across the border in this region; Identify the most effective ways to optimize the Cascade Gateway cross-border transportation system; and develop a preliminary plan, cost-estimate, and timeline for subsequent improvements.
Participating Agencies
This project has been identified and endorsed by the International Mobility and Trade Corridor Project (IMTC). It has also been called out as one of four priorities listed on the WA Governor and BC Premier’s Transportation Protocol Agreement of June, 2006.
A project steering committee will be comprised of the agencies most responsible for and affected by the performance of the systems under evaluation, including WA State Department of Transportation and B.C. Ministry of Transportation. The project will be managed by the Whatcom Council of Governments (WCOG)—the lead agency of IMTC.