Conclusion: Where Freight and Passengers Meet
The dominant gateways on the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican borders serve as both passenger and freight crossing points. The border ports of Detroit, Michigan, and Buffalo, New York, were the busiest land gateways for travel in personal vehicles by Canadians and Americans and also the leading U.S.-Canadian gateways for trade by all surface modes. On the U.S.-Mexican border, the dominant freight gateways, Laredo and El Paso, Texas, were also among the leading gateways for passenger crossings. In addition, the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, California, crossings were major gateways for personal-use vehicles and trucks, respectively. The busiest city pairs for air travel were New York-Toronto for the northern border and Los Angeles-Mexico City for the southern border.
As U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico grows, pressure on border and gateway infrastructure can be expected to rise, with the potential to increase congestion levels, alter current traffic flow patterns, and create demand for congestion mitigation strategies, particularly at intermodal connectors where multiple modes meet. Technologies such as pre-clearance systems and automated entry systems combined with demand management strategies remain possible solutions for changing border capacity and to complement modifications to physical capacity and border operations. Importantly, the use of these technologies will need to be balanced with increased security requirements at U.S. border ports and transportation facilities, in light of the September 2001 attacks against the United States.
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