Office of Operations Freight Management and Operations

Ambassador Bridge Crossing Summary

Overview

The Ambassador Bridge connects Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan and is the single busiest international land border crossing in North America, accommodating 27 percent of the approximately $400 billion in annual trade between Canada and the U.S. Almost 3.5 million commercial vehicles used the bridge in 2000. The bridge is 1.6 miles long from tollbooth to primary inspection checkpoint in either direction. There are four lanes with directional flow controlled by overhead changeable electronic lane markers, often in combination with cones. It operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

The bridge and its collateral facilities are privately owned by an entity known as the Ambassador Bridge who operates and maintains the bridge and collects tolls on both sides of the crossing. The Ambassador Bridge's U.S. owner is the Detroit International Bridge Company and its Canadian subsidiary is The Canadian Transit Company. Ambassador Bridge owns the facilities that house Canada Customs and Immigration while GSA owns the U.S. Customs facility. The U.S. and Canadian Customs authorities operate the facilities and control the property where their respective Customs facilities are located.

Crossing Times
empty cell Baseline Time[1] Average Crossing Time[2] 95th Percentile Time[3] Buffer Time[4] Buffer Index[5]
Outbound 5.7 8.8 13.9 4.9 55.7
Inbound 12.9 20.4 33.9 13.4 65.7

Notes:

  1. Baseline time (in minutes) 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.
  2. Average crossing time (in minutes) to travel the study distance.
  3. Time (in minutes) for 95 percent of trucks to travel the study distance.
  4. Time (in minutes) between the average time and the 95th percentile time for trucks to travel the study distance. This is the "extra time" that must be budgeted to cross the border relative to the average time.
  5. Buffer time necessary expressed as a percentage of average time. This is the extra percentage of average time that must be budgeted to cross the border.

Scatter plot showing the average outbound and inbound travel time in minutes experienced for different truck volumes per lane per hour. As outbound traffic volume increases, the travel time varies from 5 to 20 minutes, with the average being about 10 minutes. However, as inbound traffic volume increases, time varies from approximately 12 minutes to a maximum of 70 minutes.

Graph showing the typical hourly inbound traffic volumes per booth from 6AM to 7PM, showing travel time, volume per booth, and number of open booths. No delay travel time is 12.28 minutes. As traffic volume increases at rush hour, the number of open booths declines slightly.

Graph showing the typical hourly outbound traffic volumes per booth from 8AM to 9PM, showing travel time, volume per booth, and number of open booths. No delay travel time is 5.93 minutes. As traffic volume increases at rush hour, the number of open booths declines, especially in the morning.

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