Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS)
Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) use variable message signs on roads, websites, cameras, and loop detectors to provide real-time traffic updates to travelers on a transportation system.
At the U.S. - Canada border, ATIS systems not only provide important updates and traffic volumes; wait-times at the border crossings are calculated and posted on signs and on regional websites to help travelers plan their cross-border trips and to choose which border crossing to use.
In 2000, the WA State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) intsllaed a border ATIS system northbound on Interstate 5 which reported wait times for the Peace Arch port-of-entry. In the subsequent years, WSDOT has made further improvements, adding wait time detection systems at all four Cascade Gateway ports-of-entry, cameras along I-5 and at all crossings, and connecting these data to the binational wait time archive at CascadeGatewayData.com.
In 2001, the IMTC coalition identified the need to develop a similar system southbound so that wait times could be calculated and displayed in similar ways in both directions. Using U.S. Federal Highway Administration funds, matched with Transport Canada and B.C. Ministry of Transportation funding, the IMTC coalition helped develop southbound ATIS system.
B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Transport Canada are currently working to expand this southbound system to all four ports-of-entry as well.
The southbound data from the ATIS system is also being archived at the CascadeGatewayData.com website. For more information, visit the ATIS Wat Time Archive project site.
Southbound ATIS system website
Northbound ATIS system website