![](media/image1.png)

Final Site Report

######## **Evaluation of Travel**

**[Time Methods to Support]{.smallcaps}**

**[Mobility Performance]{.smallcaps}**

**[Monitoring]{.smallcaps}**

**[Blaine (Pacific Highway)]{.smallcaps}**

To

Office of Freight Mgt. and Operations

Federal Highway Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation

Washington, DC 20590

 April 2002

Border Crossing Freight Delay Data Collection and Analysis

**FY 2001 Data Collection Pacific Highway (Blaine Border) Crossing**

Site Description

The Pacific Highway (Blaine Border) Crossing is the major truck border
crossing linking western Washington state with the coastal mainland of
British Columbia (BC). The border between Washington and BC is located
on the 49^th^ parallel and since it is defined by degrees of latitude
north of the equator it does not correspond to any natural feature such
as a river. Consequently, there is only an imaginary line demarcating
the border and no bridge or toll facility. The border crossing is the
mandatory crossing point for all trucks traveling north on I-5 towards
BC and south on BC route 99 towards Washington State. The Blaine
crossing is located about one mile to the east of the auto crossing. The
Blaine Border Crossing is the gateway that trucks traveling from Seattle
north to Vancouver or Vancouver south to Seattle and beyond use. Trucks
traveling north on I-5 must exit the Interstate at state route 543,
cross the border about a mile to the north then continue north on BC
route 15 to BC route 914. On BC route 914, the trucks travel west to
join the BC route 99, the major route north to Vancouver. Heading south
the process is reversed. Figure 1 shows a map of the general region in
Washington and British Columbia that provides access to the border.

Data collection activities took place at the Blaine Border Crossing on
Tuesday through Thursday, July 10 through 12, 2001 for approximately 12
hours each day. The times of data collection were selected to correspond
to those hours with the highest truck traffic flows and anticipated
longest delays. The Blaine Border Crossing is open 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.

Outbound (northbound) truck traffic traveling to Canada must exit I-5 at
state route 543 and drive the approximately one mile north to the
border. Route 543 is a two-lane road but trucks must use the shoulder
when there are backups at the border crossing. There is a small duty
free shop close to the crossing but it does not appear to be used by the
trucks. Close to the border, the number of lanes expands to four to
enable the vehicles to proceed to their respective Customs booth.
Automobiles, pickups and vans curve slightly to the east to enter
Canadian Customs while buses are diverted further east to enter their
primary inspection area. Trucks are diverted furthest to the east past
the truck Customs booths. Ordinarily, the Canadians have one booth
operating but usually open a second when traffic conditions warrant.
Trucks are either released from primary inspection or must continue on
to the secondary inspection facilities that are located to the north and
east of the primary booths. At secondary inspection, trucks can undergo
further papers checks and/or physical inspection at truck bays or in the
parking area. All trucks regardless of whether or not they require
secondary inspection then proceed north on BC route 15. This route
provides two lanes of traffic in each direction.

Inbound (southbound) trucks traveling to the United States follow a
similar pattern to outbound trucks. As they approach the border
crossing, smaller vehicles curve slightly to the west and then proceed
to the Customs booths while buses move just to the west of the small
vehicles. Trucks turn sharply westward to reach the truck primary
inspection booths. A number of trucks stop at the Canadian duty free
shop, which is about a quarter-mile north of the border, and then rejoin
the border crossing traffic after the trucks have diverted from the rest
of the traffic and are proceeding towards the booths.

![](media/image2.png)

#### Figure 1. Blaine Border Region

Some trucks stop at the small parking lot located just north of the
point where the trucks turn towards the primary booths in order to check
their paper work and visit the brokers located just south of the border
on the east side of the road. There are currently spaces for 14 trucks
but a number of additional spaces will be available this fall to the
west of the parking lot. During daylight hours, two booths are usually
open with one booth being open throughout the night. When traffic backs
up in a outbound direction, it occupies the right lane of BC route 15.
As is the case at Canadian Customs, if a truck requires additional
inspection, it is diverted to the secondary inspection facility located
to the south of the primary facility. Trucks exiting the secondary
facility rejoin those trucks that have only been required to pass
through the primary inspection booths. All trucks then merge onto State
route 543 and proceed south towards I-5. Figure 2 shows an aerial view
of the Canadian and American truck Customs area as well as the approach
roads leading to the border.

![](media/image3.png)

**Figure 2. Blaine Border Crossing (looking North)**

Data Collection Process

For this study, two data collection locations were used in each
direction. The "number 1" locations were located to the north or south
of where the truck queues were anticipated to form due to backups at the
primary Customs location. The "number 2" location was immediately after
the primary inspection booths. For consistency among all border
crossings visited as part of the overall project, the data collection
positions were distinguished by whether the trucks were traveling out of
or into the United States. For the Blaine border crossing, outbound
corresponded to northbound and inbound to southbound. Figure 3 shows the
approximate locations of the data collection points both for the United
States and Canada. The figure shows three outbound locations designated
OB 1A, 1B and 1C. These locations represent each of the data collection
points in the outbound direction. The OB-1 data collector shifted
locations as the outbound truck queue backed up along SR 543. OB-1A was
located on the south side of a truck parking area about 0.4 miles from
the Canadian primary inspection booths. OB-2 was located about 0.7 of a
mile from the custom booths along SR 543 and OB-1C about 1.1 miles from
the custom booths on the ramp leading to I-5. Figures 4 and 5 show the
location of OB-1C and OB-2 data collection points respectively. The
Inbound 1 (IB-1) position was located at the north end of a truck
parking area about 0.5 miles from the US primary truck custom inspection
booths. This data collection point was located north of the Duty Free
Shop and the parking lot with the 14 truck parking spaces used by trucks
visiting brokers. The inbound 2 (IB-2) data collection point was located
adjacent to the American Customs booths. Figure 6 shows the location of
the IB-2 data collection point. The IB-1 data collector moved on one
occasion when the queue extended past the position shown on the map as
IB-1. However, when the data collector finally drove into the new data
collection location along the road, the queue had dissipated and she
returned to the original collection point.

Each data collector would use a handheld computer to record partial
license plate information of all commercial vehicles that passed their
location. The computer would also store the time that each license plate
was entered. The data from the two locations in each direction would be
combined, allowing the determination of the travel time for each vehicle
that was recorded at *both* locations.

For the data collection, the on-site team included four data collectors
and one supervisor. The hours during which data were collected were
selected to encompass the peak truck traffic period when delays would be
most likely. They were selected from an examination of the available

truck flow data and discussions with knowledgeable officials. Table 1
shows the data collection hours for each day during the site visit. Data
collection extended about 12 hours and included the periods when the
supervisor collected data during break periods and the 30-minute meal
period.

![](media/image4.wmf)

#### Figure 3. Sampling Sites at the Blaine Border Crossing

![](media/image5.jpeg){width="6.5in" height="2.9in"}

**Figure 4. OB-1C**

![](media/image6.jpeg){width="6.5in" height="4.875in"}

**Figure 5. OB-2**

![](media/image7.jpeg){width="6.5in" height="4.875in"}

**Figure 6. IB-2**

Table 1. Hours of Data Collection

  -------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------
  **Date**             **Start**                 **End**

  7/10/01              8:00 am                   8:00 pm

  7/11/01              8:00 am                   8:00 pm

  7/12/01              7:00 am                   7:00 pm
  -------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------

The arrangements that led to the data collection activities required a
considerable number of phone calls, e-mail correspondence, and a site
visit. A meeting was held at the Blaine Border Crossing with
representatives of Canadian and U.S. Immigration, Canadian and U.S.
Customs, the B.C. Ministry of Transportation, the Whatcom Council of
Government, FHWA representatives, and Battelle. In addition, the
Battelle representative toured the border area and potential data
collection sites on both sides of the border with local officials.

Table 2 contains a list of the individuals who were contacted and their
telephone and e-mail information. Future data collection for this
project should be able to be organized and authorized more easily.
However, any new project would require additional time to explain the
data collection objectives to the involved parties and gain their
approval.

## Table 2. Agency Contacts

+-------------------+------------------+---------------+--------------+
| **Contact**       | **Agency**       | **Phone/Fax** | **E-mail**   |
+-------------------+------------------+---------------+--------------+
| Gary Baker        | Canada Customs   | \(604\)       | Gary.baker@  |
|                   |                  | 538-3607      |              |
| Customs           |                  |               | ms.rc.gc.ca  |
| Supervisor        |                  | \(604\)       |              |
|                   |                  | 538-8961(fax) |              |
+-------------------+------------------+---------------+--------------+
| Jay Brandt        | U.S. Customs     | \(360\)       | j.r.brandt@\ |
|                   |                  | 332-4656      | Custom       |
| Assistant Port    |                  |               | s.treas.gpov |
| Director          |                  | \(360\)       |              |
|                   |                  | 332-4701(fax) |              |
+-------------------+------------------+---------------+--------------+
| Mike Brower       | FHWA             | \(360\)       | Mic          |
|                   |                  | 753-9550)     | hael.brower@ |
| Transportation    |                  |               |              |
| Mobility Engineer |                  | \(360\)       | FHWA.DOT.GOV |
|                   |                  | 753-9889      |              |
|                   |                  | (fax)         |              |
+-------------------+------------------+---------------+--------------+
| Bruce Bruner      | U.S. Immigration | (360)332-6091 | Bru          |
|                   |                  |               | ce.m.bruner@ |
| Port Director     |                  | (360)332-3747 |              |
|                   |                  | (fax)         | usdoj.gov    |
+-------------------+------------------+---------------+--------------+
| Bridgette Canil   | BC Ministry of   | \(604\)       | Bridgi       |
|                   | Transportation   | 660-8239      | d.Canil@gems |
| Intelligent       |                  |               | .5.gov.bc.ca |
| Transportation    |                  | \(604\)       |              |
| System Engineer   |                  | 660-2181      |              |
+-------------------+------------------+---------------+--------------+
| Hugh Conroy       | Whatcom Council  | \(360\)       | h            |
|                   | of Governments   | 676-6974      | ugh@wcog.org |
| Project Manager   |                  |               |              |
|                   |                  | \(360\)       |              |
|                   |                  | 738-6232      |              |
|                   |                  | (fax)         |              |
+-------------------+------------------+---------------+--------------+
| Ken Moyes         | Canadian         | \(604\)       | ken.seebach@ |
|                   | Immigration      | 535-5450      |              |
| Shift             |                  |               | ccr          |
| Superintendent    |                  | \(604\)       | a-adrc.gc.ca |
|                   |                  | 541-5621      |              |
+-------------------+------------------+---------------+--------------+

**Data Collection Details**

Both the Canadian and U.S. Customs official provided some data on past
traffic flows at the border. Unfortunately, to date, the data collected
has been fragmentary. However, the data that was available was used to
select the sampling hours for the data collection at the border. The
goal of this analysis process was to obtain statistically useful data
with as few data collection days as possible. In order to customize the
data collection activities at the Blaine Border Crossing, the following
steps were conducted:

-   Define significant "seasonal" variations,

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-   Define significantly different days of the week,

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-   Identify traffic streams that experience significantly different
    conditions, and

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-   Estimate the number of days needed for the data collection survey.

As shown in Figure 7, there is some variation is the commercial traffic
by month. Due to project constraints, data collection needed to occur
between late May and early September 2001. From Figure 7, the two months
with the greatest average volumes during this data collection window
were May and July.

![](media/image8.wmf)

Table 3 shows that at least for inbound traffic from Canada into the
United States, there is a significant difference in commercial traffic
between weekdays and weekends. Weekend traffic is about 51 percent of
typical weekday traffic. However there is not a significant difference
between Monday and Friday and the three mid-week days although traffic
on Mondays and Fridays is about 97% of the traffic on Tuesday through
Thursday. Nevertheless, a decision was made to collect only three days
of data from Tuesday through Thursday and that this would provide an
adequate number of data samples to represent "typical" conditions.

**Table 3. Sample Month -- Daily Traffic Distribution of Commercial**

**Vehicles for May 2001**

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  **Day**                 **Day of Week**         **Inbound**
  ----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------
  1                       Tuesday                 1,818

  2                       Wednesday               1,640

  3                       Thursday                1,579

  4                       Friday                  1,556

  5                       Saturday                893

  6                       Sunday                  827

  7                       Monday                  1,576

  8                       Tuesday                 1,698

  9                       Wednesday               1,613

  10                      Thursday                1,591

  11                      Friday                  1,503

  12                      Saturday                807

  13                      Sunday                  669

  14                      Monday                  1,575

  15                      Tuesday                 1,670

  16                      Wednesday               1,846

  17                      Thursday                1,704

  18                      Friday                  1,439

  19                      Saturday                988

  20                      Sunday                  853

  21                      Monday                  1,053

  22                      Tuesday                 1,837

  23                      Wednesday               1,862

  24                      Thursday                1,863

  25                      Friday                  1,557

  26                      Saturday                787

  27                      Sunday                  765

  28                      Monday                  1,350

  29                      Tuesday                 1,725

  30                      Wednesday               1,713

  31                      Thursday                1,687
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------

> Source: U.S. Customs, Blaine Crossing

**Data Collection Procedures**

The data collection stations selected for the crossing were chosen
because of the particular actions that occur at each site. Segments
defined by the data collection stations were used to determine the
commercial vehicle travel times and freight delay. As illustrated in
Figures 2 through 9, the data collection sites were located at:

-   An advance station located upstream of the commercial vehicle queue
    -- IB-1 and OB-1.

-   The import station (primary inspection booths before detailed, or
    secondary, inspection) -- IB-2 and OB-2.

Data collection was conducted by recording commercial vehicle license
plates as vehicles crossed fixed points within the data collection
sites. Survey individuals or teams, were placed at each of the four data
collection sites to record commercial vehicle license plate data.

Collectors at these locations would record the last five characters of
the front, lower-left license plate of as many trucks as possible that
passed their location. When trucking firms register many vehicles at
once, they often get assigned sequential license plate numbers. Using
the last five characters helps to ensure that as different trucks
operated by the same firm travel across the bridge that they are
uniquely identified. License plate information was entered into handheld
computers with a special application designed for this project. Each
entry was time-stamped with the current date and time. Prior to each
day's collection, all handheld computers were synchronized to the same
time. Prior experience indicated that recording the entire license plate
was too time consuming and that entering only the last four characters
did not provide adequate distinction between different vehicles, so the
project team chose to record the last five characters.

Typically, the queue of trucks crossing the border outbound would not
extend beyond OB-1B as shown in Figure 3. However, when the queue would
extend southward towards I-5 the data collector at the #1 location would
have to move to a point on the entrance ramp to the interstate that was
beyond the end of the queue. In this way, they could continue to record
trucks before they began their wait at the end of the line. When this or
any other event of interest occurred, the collectors would use an
"EVENT" feature of the PDA software to record it.

For each #1 location, the supervisor would record the distance from any
data collection point other than the original position that would be
OB-1A. During post-processing, the data from the locations nearer to the
border than the *farthest* location would be adjusted to include the
additional travel time from the farthest location to the original
location. The travel time would be computed at free-flow speeds, since
there would have been no queue at the times that the data were collected
at these closer locations. In this way, the data all would appear to be
collected from the same location, the one most distant from the primary
Customs Canadian booth.

The data collection team used cell phones to communicate. This was
particularly important when the queues lengthened such that a collector
had to move farther upstream. The supervisor could be kept informed
without repeated trips to each data collection location. This was also
useful at the end of the day when the #1 collectors would inform the #2
collectors of the last truck they recorded, so the #2 collectors would
know when to stop. Although cell tower location limitations created some
problems with reception, each collector was usually able to use their
cell phone to reach other team members.

**Data Collection Sample Size**

Sample sizes are typically not a concern with videotape or handheld data
entry devices, because the data collection includes a large number of
vehicles. However, minimum sample sizes should be verified with
variability values from field data. Early research found that sample
sizes from 25 to 100 license matches were necessary for a given roadway
segment and time period (Turner, et. al.). In most cases, there were
sufficient records to meet this requirement.

**Data Collection Equipment**

As outlined in the "Data Collection Procedures" section above,
Handspring Visor PDAs were used as the data entry device and proved
adequate to the task. Low-end models with 2 Mb of storage capacity were
selected as the application and data size were projected to be well
below this limit. The Handspring Visors use the Palm OS (operating
system) and have faster processing speeds (at least in side-by-side
comparison with this application) and larger screen sizes than
comparable models from Palm Computing.

A custom application was developed for the Palm OS which allowed the
data collectors to identify their locations (e.g., OB-1, IB-2), the
number of open booths (primarily used for the Customs inspection
booths), special events or other comments, and license plate
information. A screen shot of the application interface is shown in
Figure 8.

![](media/image9.png){width="3.125in" height="3.3125in"}

**Figure 8. Data Collection Device and Software Application**

The data were downloaded via a serial cable directly from the
application into a text file on the field laptop computer, which was a
Dell Latitude CPx H running with a 500 MHz Pentium III processor.

**Data Collection Summary**

Table 4 shows the number of commercial vehicle license plates recorded
for each of the stations on each of the data collection days. Table 5
shows the matches for each direction for the data collection days.
Matches from the northernmost U.S. Primary booth were eliminated because
the trucks passing through this booth had a greater chance of stopping
at the duty free shop after they were recorded at IB-1. Table 6 shows
the average daily traffic volume as recorded by the U.S. Customs
(inbound direction) and the Canadian Customs (outbound direction).
Hourly volumes are used in the calculation of delay and are shown with
the delay calculations in Tables 7 through 12.

**Table 4. Number of Commercial Vehicle License Plates Collected**

  -------------- ------------------ ------------------ ------------------
  **Station**    **7/10/01**        **7/11/01**        **7/12/01**

  OB-1           700                878                828

  OB-2           737                926                850

  IB-1           610                709                789

  IB-2           870                985                830

  Total          2,917              3,498              3,297
  -------------- ------------------ ------------------ ------------------

Table 5. Number of Matched License Plates Utilized

  -------------- ------------------ ------------------ ------------------
  **Station**    **7/10/01**        **7/11/01**        **7/12/01**

  OB             547                641                647

  IB             266                291                320

  Total          813                932                967
  -------------- ------------------ ------------------ ------------------

**Table 6. Average Daily Traffic at the Blaine Border Crossing**

  -------------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------
  **Direction**        **7/10/01**      **7/11/01**      **7/12/01**

  Outbound\*           1,137            1,317            1,179

  Inbound              1,943            1,746            1,848

  Total                3,080            3,063            3,027
  -------------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------

> \*Underreporting is inherent in this data because no data was
> collected
>
> for the early morning hours before 6:00 AM and after 11:00 PM

##### **Data Quality Steps**

At the end of each day of data collection, the supervisor would collect
the PDAs and download the data into the field laptop computer where it
was stored on the hard drive. The data would be examined for any
anomalies and transferred across the Internet to a secondary location
for backup purposes. The OB-1 and OB-2 data would be merged together and
license plates from the two locations would be "matched" using a
spreadsheet developed in Microsoft Excel. As it is easy to mistake
certain characters, particularly letters that looked like numbers, the
license plate data was pre-processed. All 'I's were replaced with '1's;
all 'O's, 'D's, and 'Q's were replaced with '0's; all 'S's were replaced
with '5's; and all 'Z's were replaced with '2's. In addition, the data
collectors were instructed to always use '1's for 'I's and '0's for 'O's
(i.e., to use the digit, rather than the letter).

Occasionally, collectors would be unsure about a license plate and would
append "QQQ" to their entry. This would typically occur when several
trucks passed the collector in rapid succession or if one truck blocked
the license plate of another and he or she could only manage a quick
glimpse. This would allow the supervisor to search the downloaded data
for a potential match by using the travel times of other trucks that
were recorded in the same general time frame. During this process, the
supervisor could also identify the few records in which the data
collector forgot to press "ENTER" after recording a license plate before
recording the next one. These ten-character entries could be split into
two and the time for the first interpolated from the adjacent entries if
they were less than a minute or so apart.

Data post-processing also included a step to identify any anomalies in
the data, including outliers. Outliers, records that indicated travel
times significantly greater than typical for that time period, were most
often caused by recording the license plate of a vehicle only some of
the time as it made repeated trips across the border during a single
day. This is because the matching algorithm uses the most recent time at
the #1 position when matching to a record from a #2 location. For
example, if the vehicle was recorded as it headed from Canada to the
U.S. early in the morning, later returned to Canada, was missed as it
re-entered the U.S. later in the day, and then recorded on its
subsequent return to Canada, the #1 time from its first trip would be
matched with it #1 time from the first trip (for a valid travel time) an
also matched to the #2 time from its second trip (an invalid travel
time). This invalid travel time would be easily identified by manual
inspection of the data, aided by highlighting those travel times above a
specific, but variable, threshold.

## Freight Delay Analysis

The measure for the freight transportation system at international
roadway border crossings is travel delay per truck trip through the
first inspection point in the import country. Delay is measured relative
to the travel time at low volume conditions, which will allow the
processing time of the inspection to be accommodated outside of the
measure. Estimating the average delay per truck for each hour where
congestion is present and then applying the average hourly truck volume
produces an estimate of total delay.

The average delay per truck for each hour is the difference between the
travel time at low volume conditions and the travel time each hour.
Travel time is also affected by the number of open inspection booths and
this information was recorded on all days as it changed. To determine
the average travel time for each road segment, the matched license plate
data in the database is used. The number of matches are noted for
statistical analysis and the travel time is noted for each hour. The
travel time for each truck was assigned to the hour when they passed
through the primary Customs inspection location.

The data are presented in Tables 7 through 12. The columns illustrate
the key elements for estimating delay:

-   No Delay Travel Time -- The time through the system at low volume
    conditions. For this report, the value used was that of the lowest
    hourly travel time in that direction for each three-day data
    collection period.

-   Average Number of Open Booths -- The average number of primary
    Customs commercial vehicle inspection booths open and available for
    processing trucks. This figure is not used to compute delay but is
    useful to help understand the relationship between booths, traffic
    volume, and delay.

-   Number of Matched Vehicles -- The number of vehicle observation used
    to estimate the travel time for each hour.

-   Average Travel Time -- The amount of travel time from entry to exit
    for trucks entering the system each hour (use the time the vehicle
    passes the advance point as the determinant of the time period
    label).

-   Delay per Trip -- The difference between the average travel time and
    the "no delay" time.

-   Average Traffic Volume -- The average hourly truck volume for the
    period being analyzed.

-   Total Delay -- The product of the hourly truck volume and delay per
    trip.

Table 7. Total Delay -- 7/10/2001 -- Outbound

  ---------- ---- ------- --------- ---------- ------------- --------- -------- ---------- ----------
  **Time                  **(a)\    **(b)\     **(c)\        **(d)\    **(e)\   **(f)\     **(g)\
  Period**                \"No      Average    Number of     Average   Delay    Average    Total
                          Delay\"   No. of     \"Matched\"   Travel    Per      Traffic    Delay\
                          Travel    Open       Vehicles**    Time**    Trip\    Volume**   (f x e)**
                          Time**    Booths**                           (d -                
                                                                       a)**                

  7:00       --   8:00 AM 5.43                                         -5.43               0.00

  8:00       --   9:00 AM 5.43                                         -5.43               0.00

  9:00       --   10:00   5.43                                         -5.43               0.00
                  AM                                                                       

  10:00      --   11:00   9.73                                         (3.73)              0.00
                  AM                                                                       

  7:00       --   8:00 AM 4.75      1.00       8             6.00      1.25     49         61.25

  8:00       --   9:00 AM 4.75      1.00       44            6.35      1.60     71         113.60

  9:00       --   10:00   4.75      1.00       39            10.73     5.98     70         418.60
                  AM                                                                       

  10:00      --   11:00   4.75      1.00       33            7.25      2.50     61         152.50
                  AM                                                                       

  11:00      --   12:00   4.75      1.00       38            11.3      6.55     65         425.75
                  PM                                                                       

  12:00      --   1:00 PM 4.75      1.00       48            15.8      11.05    94         1,038.70

  1:00       --   2:00 PM 4.75      1.00       45            27.37     22.62    77         1,741.74

  2:00       --   3:00 PM 4.75      1.76       68            22.37     17.62    126        2,220.12

  3:00       --   4:00 PM 4.75      1.00       55            13.85     9.10     69         627.90

  4:00       --   5:00 PM 4.75      1.30       53            14.93     10.18    46         468.28

  5:00       --   6:00 PM 4.75      1.00       39            8.2       3.45     48         165.60

  6:00       --   7:00 PM 4.75      1.00       55            15.55     10.80    69         745.20

  7:00       --   8:00 PM 4.75      1.00       22            4.75      0.00     49         0.00
  ---------- ---- ------- --------- ---------- ------------- --------- -------- ---------- ----------

Table 8. Total Delay -- 7/11/2001 -- Outbound

![](media/image10.wmf)

**Table 9. Total Delay -- 7/12/2001 -- Outbound**

![](media/image11.wmf)

Table 10. Total Delay -- 7/10/2001 -- Inbound

![](media/image12.wmf)

Table 11. Total Delay -- 7/11/2001 -- Inbound

![](media/image13.wmf)

Table 12. Total Delay -- 7/12/2001 -- Inbound

![](media/image14.wmf)

## Statistics

Table 13 shows the baseline or "no delay" travel time, the average
travel time, and three other measures that indicate the reliability of
the travel time estimates. The baseline time (in minutes) is the time
needed to travel the study distance (between the starting point in the
exporting country and the initial inspection point in the importing
country) in free-flow traffic conditions. The average time is computed
from all vehicles measured during the data collection period over the
study distance. The 95^th^ percentile time is the time (in minutes)
within which 95 percent of all trucks can cross the border. The buffer
time is the additional time above the average crossing time (in minutes)
that it takes for 95 percent of all trucks to cross. The buffer index
expresses the buffer time in terms of the average time and is the
percentage of extra time that must be budgeted to cross the border
within the 95^th^ percentile time. For example, if the average time was
10 minutes and the buffer time was 5 minutes, the buffer index would be
50 percent.

Table 13. Crossing Times

+----------+-----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
|          | Baseline  | Average  | 95^th^   | Buffer   | Buffer    |
|          |           | Crossing | Pe       | Time     | Index     |
|          | Time      | Time     | rcentile |          |           |
|          |           |          | Time     |          |           |
+----------+-----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
| Outbound | 4.8       | 21.0     | 9.1      | 14.3     | 66.5      |
+----------+-----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+
| Inbound  | 8.1       | 17.3     | 80.3     | 18.3     | 105.8     |
+----------+-----------+----------+----------+----------+-----------+

From the table, it is apparent that while the average travel time is
slightly lower for inbound traffic, the reliability is much more
favorable for outbound traffic.

Figure 9 illustrates the average travel time experienced for different
truck volumes per lane per hour in each direction.

![](media/image15.wmf)

Figure 9. Average Travel Time for Different Hourly Volumes

Figures 10 and 11 show typical average hourly traffic volumes per booth
for the study period as well as the measured average hourly travel
times. In addition, the average number of open primary Customs booths in
each direction is shown.

![](media/image16.wmf)

Figure 10. Typical Inbound Traffic

## 

![](media/image17.wmf)

Figure 11. Typical Outbound Traffic

## Conclusions

Lessons learned during data collection activities in this project at the
Blaine Border Crossing and at others along the Canadian and Mexican
borders with the U.S. have identified several issues that should be
taken into consideration to assist future data collection efforts. Some
apply to advance planning and the initial site visit and others apply
more specifically to the data collection activities themselves.

[Planning and Site Visits]{.underline}

-   Prior to conducting any data collection project, all jurisdictional
    and cooperating agencies should be made explicitly aware of the
    purpose and objectives of the study as well as all the details
    associated with the data collection project (e.g. dates, times,
    procedures to be followed during the data collection period, etc.).
    Failure to do so may result in confusion and possible delay of the
    study. This has been very time-consuming at some ports and should be
    adequately accounted for in the schedule. For some agencies,
    including U.S. Customs, it is important to contact both the federal
    and local levels. Some entities that should be contacted might not
    be readily apparent and can include construction companies working
    on public rights-of-way, state police and city officials. Some
    agencies provide verbal approval for the data collection and may
    even provide supporting documentation to their field staff, yet are
    reluctant to provide documentation for the data collectors to carry.
    Every effort should be made to obtain written authorization that can
    be carried by the data collectors. For example, Canadian immigration
    officials at the Blaine Crossing provided work permit documents that
    ensured smooth data collection operations in Canada.

-   Prior to data collection activities, a general idea of traffic peak
    periods and conditions should be understood to optimize collection
    of appropriate traffic data and coverage of the appropriate times.
    This information should be obtained from discussions with
    knowledgeable officials and by examining historical traffic data.

-   Any additional data needs should be discussed explicitly with the
    appropriate officials. Canadian Customs at the Blaine Crossings, for
    example, does not normally record and maintain average hourly truck
    volumes, but will do so if special arrangements are made in advance.
    Alternatively, it may be appropriate to use other means to measure
    truck volumes, such as roadway counters or having the data
    collectors indicate the vehicles that pass without their license
    plates being recorded (assuming continuous data collection during
    each day). These additional traffic volumes could be used to
    corroborate data provided by the local authorities or used if their
    planned data collection did not occur or there was some other
    problem in providing the data.

-   It is also important to be aware of special federal or local
    holidays on both sides of the border when scheduling data
    collections as these could affect traffic flows. Some minor holidays
    that occur on Mondays and Fridays, might not significantly affect
    traffic for a Tuesday through Thursday data collection period, but
    may increase the likelihood that key local officials will be on
    vacation and unavailable should any problems arise.

-   Photographs of the border facilities and data collection locations
    should be taken during the site visits to assist in documenting the
    collection effort and to better inform the data collectors prior to
    their arrival on-site.

-   Processing, data quality, and analysis of all traffic data require
    the largest portion of the study time.

[Data Collection Activities]{.underline}

-   Prior to data collection activities, an explanation and
    understanding of the procedures to be followed and logistics should
    be made clear to all members of the study team (e.g., number and
    location of license plate characters to be recorded, all commercial
    vehicles should be recorded, when and how to contact the on-site
    supervisor, etc.).

-   Proper identification for all survey members and written
    documentation of authorization from all jurisdictional agencies
    should be carried at all times by all members of the study team,
    especially when conducting business in a foreign country.

-   The supervisor should assess all conditions upon arrival for data
    collection to note any changes from the site visit or prior
    collection activities. Sometimes unplanned construction or other
    events may alter the preferred data collector locations or the truck
    flow patterns.

-   The supervisor should be used to maintain nearly constant data
    collection during breaks. This improves data quality by ensuring the
    supervisor observe each collector and can identify and correct any
    problems they might be having. Further, this improves the number of
    trucks matched at both the #1 and #2 locations, improving the sample
    size for analysis.

-   It is important to ensure that the data collectors are safe and
    comfortable during their long periods of collection. If their data
    collection locations cannot provide adequate cover from severe rains
    or heat, additional vehicles should be considered. Comfortable sport
    chairs with attachable beach umbrellas served to protect the
    collectors well during light rain and moderate sun. Ensure that the
    collectors have an adequate supply of water and that facilities are
    conveniently accessible. This becomes more difficult for the remote
    locations upstream from the border crossing.

# REFERENCES

Turner, S.M., W.L. Eisele, R.J. Benz, and D.J. Holdener. *Travel Time
Data Collection Handbook.Report.* No. FHWA-PL-98-035. Federal Highway
Administration, Texas Transportation Institute, March 1998