Skip to main content

FHWA targets border congestion with technology

To reduce delays at US border crossings in New York, Michigan and Washington, the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has awarded US$256,470 for the use of innovative new technology that will provide information on wait times at border crossings and help manage delay by giving truckers advance notice of crossing conditions. FHWA’s Border Wait Time Deployment Initiative is designed to accelerate the adoption of innovative technology, such as sensors, to measure delay an
June 6, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
To reduce delays at US border crossings in New York, Michigan and Washington, the 324 US Department of Transportation’s 831 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has awarded US$256,470 for the use of innovative new technology that will provide information on wait times at border crossings and help manage delay by giving truckers advance notice of crossing conditions.

FHWA’s Border Wait Time Deployment Initiative is designed to accelerate the adoption of innovative technology, such as sensors, to measure delay and wait times at land border ports of entry. The program supports the collection and dissemination of real-time traveller information to improve the reliability of goods movement across these borders.  

Under the initiative, FHWA will provide US$100,000 to the 1780 New York State Department of Transportation for its Niagara Falls International Rainbow Bridge, along with funding of US$95,920 to the 1688 Michigan Department of Transportation for technology at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel Crossing with a grant. FHWA will also award US$60,550 to the Whatcom Council of Governments (WCOG) in Whatcom County, Washington, for the Booth Integration project. All of these research projects will use dynamic message signs and advance traveller information systems to convey the border wait times.

In recent years, trucker wait time and unexpected delays have been identified as an impediment to the free flow across the border, and the FHWA has undertaken several research initiatives aimed at measuring border delays at major land-border crossings.

Related Content

  • USDoT commits $4m to Dallas CV testbed 
    January 22, 2021
    Transit project set to include CV tech and smart pedestrian crossings and intersections
  • Meeting overview and highlights
    April 15, 2013
    This year's Annual Meeting and Exposition in Nashville, Tenn., features more public sector participation than ever before. The event will kick off on Sunday, April 21 with a State DOT Roundtable featuring 20 State DOT CEOs from across the country, as well as feature senior US Department of Transportation (DOT) officials including Under Secretary for Policy Polly Trottenberg, Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland, Federal Motor Carrier Saf
  • Countering truckers’ parking conundrum
    May 3, 2017
    Colin Sowman hears about a new truck parking information system being piloted across eight states. Legislation limits truck drivers’ hours with the result that they are often caught in a situation where they need to stop either for a break or an overnight rest. But as truck parking is in short supply, truck drivers spend an average of 56 minutes a day searching for available spaces and are often faced with the choice of driving beyond their permitted hours or parking illegally.
  • ARTBA proposes path to breaking gridlock on transportation funding
    March 13, 2015
    The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has outlined a detailed proposal it believes could end the political impasse over how to fund future federal investments in state highway, bridge and transit capital projects. The ‘Getting beyond gridlock’ plan would marry a 15 cents-per-gallon increase in the federal gas and diesel motor fuels tax with a 100 per cent offsetting federal tax rebate for middle and lower income Americans for six years. The plan, ARTBA says, would fund a US$401 bil