The Niagara Falls Bridge Commission (Commission) owns and operates three of the four international bridges across the Niagara River that link the roadways of New York State and the Province of Ontario in Canada. The Commission is administered by a board of eight commissioners, four of whom are appointed by the Governor of New York and the other four by the Premier of the Province of Ontario. In 1990, the Commission adopted a plan for a long-term capital program to make improvements at its bridges and relieve delays and traffic congestion at them. The U.S. Congress created the Commission by a joint resolution in 1938 “to construct, maintain, and operate” a single international bridge across the Niagara River. The Commission was given authority over two additional bridges in congressional amendments in 1946, 1949, and 1953 and now manages the Rainbow, Whirlpool Rapids, and Lewiston-Queenston bridges. (Fig. 1.1 shows the location of these three bridges.) The joint resolution also established relationships between the Commission and the U.S. federal, New York State, and Canadian governments. The resolution has no counterpart in Canadian or New York State legislation. The resolution’s provisions are to be enforced by either the New York State Attorney General, the appropriate U.S. district attorney, or the Solicitor General of Canada. The resolution also provides for the eventual conveyance of the bridges under the Commission’s control to the state of New York and Canada. The Congress provided authority for the Commission to operate and finance bridge operations. The Commission is administered by a board of eight commissioners. Under the terms of the joint resolution, the state of New York has authority to appoint four commissioners, and Canada—through its designee, the Premier of the Province of Ontario—appoints the other four. The Commission employs about 110 staff, of which 86 are toll collectors and maintenance staff, while the remainder are administrative staff, including the general manager. In addition to the Commission’s employees, Canadian and U.S. customs and immigration officials also work on Commission properties. The Commission derives its revenues from bridge operations. The resolution gives the Commission the authority to fix and charge tolls for transit over the bridges and to use these funds to maintain, repair, and operate the bridges. The Commission’s audited financial statements for the fiscal year ending October 31, 1993, show revenues of $24.3 million, consisting of tolls ($10.6 million), interest ($7.2 million), rent from leasing space in its buildings ($5.5 million), and other sources. Expenses were $17.6 million, including $7.4 million in interest, $5.7 million in salary and fringe benefits, and $4.5 million in other expenses. The Commission does not receive any revenue or appropriations from U.S. federal, state, or local governments or from the Canadian provincial government. The Commission does, however, receive rent for space used by the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service for inspecting people and goods entering the United States. Although the Commission does not receive direct appropriations, it does benefit from the ability to issue tax-exempt bonds. The joint resolution further states that any liability or obligation incurred by the Commission is to be paid solely from the funds provided for under the joint resolution; no resulting indebtedness is to be considered an indebtedness of the United States. The joint resolution also gives the Commission the authority to issue bonds to help pay for the cost of the bridges and other necessary expenses. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 states that “the Commission shall be deemed for purposes of all Federal law to be a public agency or public authority of the State of New York, notwithstanding any other provision of law.” The essence of this provision is that interest on any bonds that the Commission issued after 1991 could be considered exempt from federal income tax. Once the bonds issued for the bridges and the related interest are paid off, the bridges are to be conveyed to the state of New York and Canada. Subsequently, the Commission is to be dissolved by order of the State Comptroller of New York. In the late 1980s, the Commission was faced with several concerns related to its bridge crossings. At peak periods during the summers and on weekends, severe traffic congestion on the Commission’s bridges resulted in long lines of cars and significant delays. The delays were not caused by insufficient bridge capacity, but rather by the time required for customs and immigration inspections at international border crossings. In response to projections of further traffic increases, the Commission undertook a long-term capital improvement program entitled A Thirty-Year Plan (the Plan). In addition, officials from the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service had said that they needed improved working facilities because the space that they leased from the Commission was antiquated, unsafe, and insufficient. This Plan, published in September 1990, set forth capital projects to meet projected traffic needs through the year 2020. The Plan called for expanding the capacity for collecting tolls and conducting inspections and for improving working facilities at the Commission’s three bridges. These projects, estimated in 1990 to cost $122 million, were to be financed through long-term bonds and accumulated Commission revenues. The Plan also called for the possible future construction of a new bridge to handle traffic volumes expected to exceed the capacity of the existing bridges. The Commission updated its cost and construction schedules when it issued bonds to fund work on the existing bridges in 1992. (See table 1.1 for an overview of the proposed bridge projects and their updated costs and schedules.) Located within sight of Niagara Falls, the Rainbow Bridge is reportedly the second busiest point of entry to the United States, serving a mix of tourist and local traffic. Rainbow Bridge carries vehicles, as well as the greatest number of pedestrians of the Commission’s three bridges. (See table 1.2 for traffic statistics for the Commission’s bridges.) Currently, this bridge has four toll booths in New York and five in Canada, in addition to eight primary inspection lanes in New York and eight inspection lanes in Canada. The new construction will expand the bridge plaza to provide 6 toll booths and 20 primary inspection lanes on the U.S. side. The construction will provide for one-way tolls, after which toll booths will no longer be needed in Canada. Canada will have fewer inspection lanes—16—because it processes cars faster. Improvements planned for the Rainbow Bridge also include major updating and expansion of the bridge plaza’s facilities to include new buildings for customs and immigration operations and for bridge maintenance, as well as a duty-free store. The new operations building was originally designed as a three-story structure sheathed in reflective glass, rising 75 feet over the road surface and arching 600 feet across the bridge apron. The design would require the use of about half an acre of Niagara Reservation State Park land adjacent to the bridge plaza. To prevent any overall loss of parkland, the Commission proposes exchanging two land parcels—an unneeded portion of its own easement on the south side of the Rainbow Bridge plaza and land near the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge—for the needed parkland on the north side of the Rainbow Bridge. The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge is an 1897 structure located 1.4 miles north of the Rainbow Bridge. The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge currently has two primary inspection lanes in the U.S. and three in Canada and two toll booths in Canada. The bridge has two levels, serving vehicles and pedestrians on the lower level and trains on the upper level. The bridge does not currently carry large commercial trucks because of its design and limited customs inspection facilities. The Commission planned to upgrade the bridge’s upper level to accommodate vehicles including trucks, as well as trains; to design and construct highway approaches and bridge plazas; and to relocate railroad tracks. The Commission also planned to install four one-way toll booths and to expand the number of inspection lanes to allow four inspection booths in each direction. The additional vehicular lanes on the upper level and access for commercial trucks were intended to relieve pressure on the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, currently one of only two commercial routes across the Niagara River. The most modern of the Commission’s three bridges, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, was opened on June 28, 1963, and is about 7 miles north of Niagara Falls. The only one of the Commission’s bridges that can accommodate all types of commercial vehicles, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge directly connects the New York State Thruway with Canadian highways to Toronto. The only other commercial route across the Niagara River is the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, New York, which is operated by the Buffalo-Ft. Erie Bridge Authority. Currently, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge has eight one-way toll booths located in Canada—four for cars and four for trucks or cars. This bridge’s plazas currently house eight primary car inspection lanes and three primary truck inspection lanes in each direction. The Commission has considered adding two toll booths for cars and four additional primary inspection lanes on each side of the border for automobiles. If traffic is sufficiently heavy, the Commission’s 30-year Plan also proposed the construction of a new four-lane international bridge 200 feet north of the existing Whirlpool Rapids Bridge. To serve the new bridge, terminal facilities slated to be constructed earlier at the nearby Whirlpool Rapids Bridge would be enlarged and approach roadways widened and extended to connect major U.S. and Canadian highways with the new bridge. The old Whirlpool Rapids Bridge would continue to serve trains and small tourist buses. Because the operations of the Commission have not been reviewed by a governmental entity during its more than 50 years of existence, Representative LaFalce asked GAO and the New York State Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) to review its operations.