Office of Operations Freight Management and Operations

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to determine a benchmark border crossing delay measure for commercial vehicles. The delay measures calculated were average delay and the Buffer Index. In order to establish these measures, seven ports of entry (POE) were surveyed – four on the U.S./Canada border (Ambassador Bridge, Peace Bridge, Blue Water Bridge, and Blaine) and three on the U.S./Mexico border (Otay Mesa, El Paso, and Laredo).

For consistency among all border crossings visited as part of the overall project, the data collection positions were distinguished by the direction of travel that they were measuring (outbound or inbound). Movement from the U.S. into Mexico was referred to as outbound. Conversely, the term inbound was used to refer to movement from Mexico to the U.S. Similarly, movement from Canada into the U.S. is referenced as inbound, while movement from the U.S. to Canada is referred to as outbound.

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