Commercial Vehicle Travel Time and Delay at

U.S. Border Crossings

The on-site reviews found:

■ The time needed for processing commercial vehicles entering the United States (inbound clearances) to be significantly longer than that for departing (outbound clearances) at almost every location. Anyone familiar with 

border activity would not find this surprising. The controlled substance and illegal immigration inspections performed by U.S. inspection agencies on the southern 

border required reviews of incoming cargoes and their

operators that led to unavoidable time delays. 

■ The actual extent of delays encountered in both directions,

and the reasons for them, however, tended to vary by individual port-of-entry. There was no single trend across sites

beyond the noted tendencies: 1) inbound clearances take

longer than outbound, and 2) southern border delay times

exceed northern border delay times. 

■ The site-specific findings may not readily lend themselves

to a “one size fits all” corrective action initiative. Nevertheless, procedural changes, application of advanced technologies, and facility design modifications at selected

ports-of-entry—some already under way—offer the possibility of greater productivity in the processing of commercial vehicles and reduced travel delay.

■ Increased traffic volume did not necessarily correlate with

significantly increased delay. Crossings varied greatly in

their ability to handle volume shifts of traffic over the

business day. 

■ In total, for all seven ports-of-entry, the average inbound

travel time was 26.8 minutes, while the average outbound

travel time was 14.2 minutes. For the four northern 

ports in the survey, the average inbound travel time was

24.1 minutes; the average outbound, 12.6 minutes. For

the three southern ports, the average inbound travel time

was 33.8 minutes; the average outbound, 17.2 minutes. 

■ Unfortunately, average travel time does not tell the whole

story, as at several crossings, many trucks took significantly

longer to transit the seven ports-of-entry. Hence, a 95th

percentile time measurement also was calculated, providing

information about the time that it took 95 percent of the

surveyed trucks to travel the study distance. A comparison

of average travel time with the 95th percentile time finds

that a number of truck trips could in fact take far longer

than the average. For example, while average travel time

for all seven inbound crossings was 26.8 minutes, the 95th

percentile time for these was over 70 minutes. 1

Bridge 4, a relatively new truck-only crossing, was the site observed at Laredo.

One of the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s)

strategic goals is to help improve the economic efficiency of

the U.S. transportation system and, thereby, enhance the

nation’s position in the global economy. One way to address

this need is to reduce the hours of delay for commercial motor

vehicles passing through the northern and southern ports-ofentry with Canada and Mexico. The border crossing process

is one of the few elements in logistical planning and execution

that today is almost completely beyond the control of both

motor carriers and

shippers. Predicting

with certainty the

time needed to transit a border crossing

is difficult. 

In 2001, FHWA’s

Office of Freight

Management and

Operations, supported by Battelle

and the Texas Transportation Institute

(TTI), undertook an

on-site review of

seven ports-of-entry

that handle over 60 percent of U.S. truck trade among the

three NAFTA nations. Linked with research now under way

to simulate border-crossing activity using a model called “Border Wizard,” these site reviews will enable FHWA to make

informed recommendations about crossing improvements.

The results also will help the agency to engage with other federal, state, and local jurisdictions in constructive dialogue

about how, together, all can improve the performance, security, and mobility of commerce at these important international

locations. 

The seven ports-of-entry reviewed in 2001 were: 

1) Otay Mesa, California; 2) El Paso, Texas; 3) Laredo, Texas1

;

4) Blaine, Washington; 5) the Ambassador Bridge (Detroit),

Michigan; 6) Blue Water Bridge (Port Huron), Michigan; and

7) Peace Bridge (Buffalo), New York. The measurement chosen to monitor commercial vehicle activity on-site was “travel

delay per truck trip.” This documents the time taken by the

individual commercial vehicle from the initial queuing point

in the exporting country, through the exporting country’s final

checkpoint, and up to and through the first inspection point

in the importing country. Travel in both directions was

assessed (i.e., truck travel into and out of the United States). 

Primary border inspection facility on

the U.S. side of the Peace Bridge, 

Buffalo, NY

NEWS
■ Not surprisingly, the number of inspection and processing booths open at each port-of-entry at any given time

had a significant influence on the variability of travel

time and delay. There was a definite relationship

between the number of booths open, the travel demand,

and the travel time through the crossing. Decisions on

how many to open at any given time are apparently not

made purely with mobility or crossing times in mind and

are not always made by the transportation agencies. 

■ Before September 11, 2001, U.S.-Canadian ports-ofentry generally processed inbound trucks with less delay,

and with less variability, than did U.S.-Mexican ports-ofentry. Southern crossings generally handle more traffic,

but with generally more variability across the day in the

travel times required for crossing. (The exception to this

pattern was the Blue Water Bridge port-of-entry at Port

Huron, Michigan). As noted, concerns about drug traffic

and illegal immigration apparently contribute to extended inspection times at the southern border. However,

other influences on travel time and delay are less selfevident and may need further consideration. Procedures

U.S. Department

of Transportation

Federal Highway

Administration

Office of Freight Management and Operations, 400 7th Street, SW, Room 3401, Washington, D.C. 20590

202-366-9210, http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight, Toll-free help-line 866-367-7487

June 2002

FHWA-OP-02-072

EDL 13653

Key: NA = not available.

Footnotes: 1 Baseline time: Time needed to travel through the port-of-entry at low-volume conditions; the lowest

hourly travel time in that direction for each day surveyed. This value represents ”no delay“ travel time. 2 Average

time: Time (in minutes) needed to travel the study distance (between the starting point in the exporting country

and the initial inspection station in the importing country). 3 95th Percentile Time: Time within which 95 percent of

the trucks surveyed traveled the study distance.

Table 1. Comparision of Outbound and Inbound Times (Minutes)

or policies that reduce time at the northern ports-of-entry

might be exportable to the southern border. 

■ A study on urban mobility, performed for FHWA by

TTI, indicated that delay times along urban roadways are

more predictable and not as volatile in their swings across

the sample day as those witnessed at the seven ports-ofentry in 2001. This confirms the earlier statement that

international border crossings offer a considerable challenge for those parties planning commercial cargo movement departures, transit times, and arrivals than do most

other links in the national transportation system. 

The full report and individual site reports are available on

the Web site noted below under the heading “Freight Productivity Performance Measures.”

Baseline Average 95th Percentile

Time1 Time2 Time3

All Outbound Crossings NA 14.2 37.4

All Inbound Crossings NA 26.8 70.1

All Northern Outbound Crossings NA 12.6 34.3

All Northern Inbound Crossings NA 24.1 70.3

All Southern Outbound Crossings NA 17.2 45.2

All Southern Inbound Crossings NA 33.8 64.9

Ambassador Bridge Outbound 5.7 8.8 13.7

Ambassador Bridge Inbound 12.9 20.4 33.9

Blaine Outbound 4.8 21.5 35.3

Blaine Inbound 8.1 17.3 35.6

Blue Water Bridge Outbound 5.0 6.2 9.1

Blue Water Bridge Inbound 11.1 34.2 80.3

Peace Bridge Outbound 9.0 21.7 38.0

Peace Bridge Inbound 8.3 23.3 83.4

El Paso Outbound 9.0 13.2 34.0

El Paso Inbound 7.6 37.2 77.4

Laredo Outbound 1.8 17.2 45.0

Laredo Inbound 12.2 31.2 54.9

Otay Mesa Outbound 9.5 19.1 36.9

Otay Mesa Inbound 6.4 35.0 64.3

Crossing

For More Information, Please Contact

Robert E.L. Davis

Transportation Specialist

Office of Freight Management and Operations

Federal Highway Administration

(202) 366-2997

robert.davis@fhwa.dot.gov