NEXUS weekend hours expand

Hours for the U.S. NEXUS dedicated commuter lanes have been adjusted to increase weekend access and make it easier for commuters to remember when lanes are open.

Hours are now the same seven days a week for the county’s three NEXUS lanes. Peace Arch will be open from 7 a.m. to noon and 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and at Pacific Highway the lane will be open from noon to 3 p.m.

“We’re trying to get the hours to match the traffic flow and be more consistent overall,” said immigration and naturalization service representative Garrison Courtney. While Courtney did not have data available on how many vehicles are using the NEXUS lanes, he did say there are now almost 30,000 members in the NEXUS program, 75 percent of whom are Canadians.

In Point Roberts hours have been doubled to 2–6 p.m. by new port director Linda Robinson in an effort to increase use at that port. “We want to see if we get enough traffic,” Robinson said. “If we don’t get the traffic, in the summer we’ll be better off with two regular lanes and closing NEXUS.” She said one reason NEXUS flows have been low is that being open from 5 – 7 p.m. didn’t fit with traffic flows.