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Measuring Border Delay and Crossing Times at the U.S.–Mexico Border—Part II
Step-by-Step Guidelines for Implementing a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) System to Measure Border Crossing and Wait Times

INTRODUCTION

Background

In 2001, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) conducted research that resulted in a report entitled Evaluation of Travel Time Methods to Support Mobility Performance Monitoring. That project involved manual wait time measurements on commercial vehicles transiting four northern and three southern border crossings (1). The research also produced another report—Assessment of Automated Data Collection Technologies for Calculation of Commercial Motor Vehicle Border Crossing Travel Time Delay—which was published in 2002 and evaluated candidates to automate the collection of border delay and crossing time data (2). There were 22 vehicle-sensing technologies that were initially screened against factors such as availability of appropriate software, volume count flexibility, minimization of privacy invasiveness, ruggedness/all-weather operation, low infrastructure cost, and positive identification capability. Of the 22 technologies initially screened, 11 were chosen for closer examination. These 11 technologies had a multitude of desirable attributes overall but in particular had the potential to meet the following three essential criteria:

  • Make positive identification of both inbound and outbound trucks at a matched pair of two points (upstream and downstream) that correspond to where data collectors are stationed for manual readings.
  • Time-stamp each vehicle that is positively identified at its detected location to enable travel time calculations.
  • Operate in all weather conditions found at a border crossing.

Subsequently, 11 of the 22 screened candidate-sensing technologies that met those three basic criteria were assessed against the additional criteria of accuracy of geo-location/travel time, percent of vehicles recorded, requirement for cross-border installation, maturity of technology for application, cost of infrastructure, and ability to count every vehicle crossing.

As a follow up to the work described above, in 2006, the FHWA initiated Part I of a research effort entitled Measuring Border Delay and Crossing Times at the U.S.–Mexico Border. This project involved the first steps in the current process to automate measurement of crossing times. The Part I technology assessment identified two technologies that were best suited to achieve the overall goal of the project (3).

In 2007, FHWA began Part II of Measuring Border Delay and Crossing Times at the U.S.–Mexico Border. Part II involved two specific objectives: (1) selecting a final technology for the border crossing time measurement system at two ports of entry (POEs) on the U.S.–Mexico border, and (2) implementing the system itself. For this part of the research, FHWA initiated two projects, one of which became the deployment of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology at the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA), a land border crossing between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. This project initially implemented two RFID reader stations at BOTA to measure crossing times of northbound commercial vehicles. The system at BOTA became operational in July 2009.

In February 2008, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) started a similar project under an interagency contract (IAC). The project implemented RFID technology at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge to measure crossing times of northbound commercial vehicles. The system includes four RFID reader stations—two in Mexico and two on the U.S. side of the border. The deployment of RFID reader stations and other communication equipment was completed and the system went online in October 2009.

The key reason RFID technology was selected at both the BOTA and Pharr POEs to measure wait time was due to the relatively high percentage of commercial vehicles crossing at those locations that already had RFID transponders. For example, passive RFID tags were widely used by trucks enrolled in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) Free and Secure Trade (FAST) Program. Also, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) installed RFID reader stations to provide identifying information that could be used to retrieve information needed to facilitate the passage of commercial vehicles through DPS’s Border Safety Inspection Facilities (BSIFs).

Subsequently, the FHWA issued several supporting documents that provide guidance to local, regional, and State agencies to deploy similar RFID-based measurement systems on the U.S.–Mexico border. These documents include:

  • Step-by-step guidelines for implementing RFID to measure border crossing and wait times.
  • A guidebook for analysis and dissemination of border crossing and wait time data.

This document, the first in the above list, provides step-by-step guidelines for installing RFID-based systems at land POEs to measure crossing and wait times of trucks. These guidelines are not POE specific and hence can be used to deploy similar systems at other border crossings. Guidelines described in this document are based on experiences gathered while deploying RFID-based systems to measure crossing times and wait times at various land border crossings in Texas on the U.S.–Mexico border.

The second document listed above provides guidance regarding analysis that can be performed with the data collected by the RFID-based border crossing time and wait time measurement system. The guidance assists agencies implementing the system to develop meaningful output from the data analysis, in the form of charts/graphs/data subsets, which then can be used by stakeholders for planning and decision-making. The guidance also describes different techniques for relaying real-time crossing and wait time data to stakeholders.

Purpose and Audience for the Guidelines

The purpose of this document is to provide step-by-step guidelines for planning, designing, and deploying a system that uses RFID technology to measure the time needed for commercial vehicles to complete the northbound border crossing process at the U.S.–Mexico border (i.e., crossing time) as well as time needed to reach the primary inspection station of the CBP facility from the end of a typical queue (i.e., wait time). This document provides a step-by-step process that is not POE specific, so similar systems can be deployed at any POE along the U.S.–Mexico border. The guidelines are also not direction specific, so a single system can be deployed to measure crossing and wait times of commercial vehicles heading both in northbound and/or southbound directions across the U.S.–Mexico border at a certain POE. It is also believed that RFID has potential for deployment at the U.S.–Canada border since POEs there need reliable and efficient systems to measure crossing and wait times. Thus, these guidelines can help agencies on the U.S.–Canada border plan, design, and deploy a wait time measurement system based on the RFID reader system technology.

The audience for these guidelines includes State departments of transportation (DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and agencies, cities, and councils of governments that typically fund the design and deployment of the system. The document also consists of many technical details to facilitate private firms designing and implementing RFID-based systems at border crossings on behalf of the previously mentioned agencies. The process outlined by these guidelines is also beneficial for designing and deploying systems based on technologies other than RFID to measure wait times and crossing times at POEs.

For the purpose of this document, an agency (public or private) planning and procuring a project to deploy an RFID system is referred as an implementing agency, which may seek the services of consultants and contractors to design and deploy the system. The system to measure travel times of commercial vehicles is referred to in this document as the RFID-based border crossing time and wait time measurement system. This term presumes that RFID reader stations have been implemented in the configuration necessary to yield both crossing and wait time measurements.

Organization of the Guidelines

The Overview of the Border Crossing Process section describes a general overview of the border crossing process for commercial vehicles entering the United States from Mexico. A clear understanding of the commercial vehicle border crossing process is a must for any individual undertaking the design and deployment of the measurement system. The border crossing process, however, may vary depending on the POE.

The Project Planning section describes planning steps necessary to identify stakeholder needs, gain stakeholder support, obtain funding, select the appropriate project procurement method, and apply a systems engineering process to achieve desired goals and objectives of the RFID-based border crossing time and wait time measurement system.

The Feasibility Study, ConOPs and System Requirements describes the steps to perform feasibility studies and then develop the concept of operations (ConOps) and system requirements at both high and low levels.

The System Design section describes steps regarding design and deployment of an RFID-based border crossing time and wait time measurement system and its components.

The System Deployment section describes steps to procure, install, test, and evaluate the system.

Sections starting with Project Planning through System Deployment also include flow charts to illustrate key steps involved in planning, designing, and deploying the system. The charts are provided to demonstrate a simplistic flow of key steps since some of the key steps can be performed in parallel and under certain circumstances may not be necessary. Each section (except System Deployment) includes a self-evaluation checklist of questionnaire that needs to be considered prior to undertaking next steps. However, implementing agencies need to customize the checklist and the flow charts per their project needs, scope, and constraints.

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