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.
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:
- 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.
- Average crossing time (in minutes) to travel the study distance.
- Time (in minutes) for 95 percent of trucks to travel the study distance.
- 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.
- 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.