Report finds cross-border traffic steadier in Blaine than other regions

By Oliver Lazenby

The most striking trend across the U.S.-Canada border since 2000 is a “severe reduction in passenger traffic.”

That’s one change outlined in the “Border Barometer,” a recent report on the U.S./Canada border crossing corridor Western Washington University’s Border Policy Research Institute was one of the report’s authors.

The report looks at the three busiest crossing regions: Detroit-Windsor, Buffalo-Niagara Falls, and the “Cascade Gateway” – the reports name for the Peace Arch and Pacific Highway crossings in Blaine.

Other trends highlighted in the report include a decrease in freight traffic and increase in use of NEXUS and other identification technologies.

Overall, passenger crossings at all regions in the report dropped between 2000 and 2017. Unlike the other regions, Cascade Gateway has more passenger traffic now than in 2010, though traffic has come down since 2013 due to a drop in the value of the Canadian dollar.

Canadians are the majority of cross-border travelers at the Cascade Gateway and they cross primarily to shop or buy gas. The majority of Americans who enter Canada from Blaine do so for vacation and recreation, according to the study.

The report calls wait times for cars at Blaine, which fluctuate seasonally and throughout the day, an “ongoing problem.” Currently, the average wait is just over six minutes, down from a peak of about 10 minutes in 2013 and 2014. That’s partly due to a high rate of NEXUS use – 42 percent of travelers crossing the border in Blaine use NEXUS, about three times the number using the program in 2010.

The Cascade Gateway sees much less freight traffic than the other crossings in the study, but unlike the other crossings, trade flowing through Blaine has increased since 2000, going from 4 percent of the total trade between the two nations in 2000 to 6 percent in 2017. Machinery and electrical equipment is the U.S.’s top export and wood products its top import.

The Cascade Gateway also stands out for cross-border government collaboration, according to the report, which cites memorandums of understanding signed by Washington state and British Columbia, and Governor Jay Inslee’s 2017 trip to address the B.C. legislative assembly.

Find the full report online at bit.ly/2ztIM6L.