http://www.carleton.ca/ctpl/pdf/papers/cdaus.pdf
Canada-US border facts
♦ About 70 percent of Canada’s trade with the United States (by
value) moves in or out of the United States by truck. About eleven
million trucks crossed the border in 2000, or about 30,000 per day;
about 100,000 passenger vehicles also cross every day; the Ambassador
Bridge between Windsor and Detroit alone handles
some 7,000 trucks a day, or one every minute in each direction, 24
hours a day; on 13 September 2001, the line-up of trucks waiting
to cross the bridge into the United States stretched 36 kilometres.
♦ Cross-border industrial linkages and the application of just-in-time
production technologies have made an increasing number of
plants on both sides of the border extremely vulnerable to delays;
the automotive sector, for example, estimates that unexpected
shutdowns due to the late arrival of parts can cost the industry up
to $25,000 per minute, costs that will ultimately be reflected in the
price consumers pay for vehicles.
♦ About 75 percent of bilateral trade in goods moves through one
BC and four Ontario border crossings: at White Rock-Blaine, two
at Windsor-Detroit, and one each at Fort Erie-Buffalo and Sarnia-
Port Huron; these border crossings have reached their physical
limit in processing both goods and people under current border
management arrangements.
♦ Some 200 million individual crossings take place at the Canada-
US border each year, an average of more than half a million every
day; 30 million cross in the Detroit-Windsor corridor; another 30
million use the Buffalo-Niagara corridor; and a further 20 million
cross between British Columbia and the state of Washington.
♦ In a typical year, 15 million Canadians travel to the United States
for visits of one day or more to break up the long winter, visit
friends and relatives, conduct business, or otherwise pursue legitimate
objectives; over the course of the winter, some 1.2 million
Canadians spend one night or more in Florida.
Common Borders, Shared Destinies:
Canada, the United States and Deepening Integration
8
♦ On the Canadian side of the border, there are 135 land-border
points, 140 inland offices, 203 airports (13 international), 187
commercial vessel clearance points, and 313 small marine
points. Many of these are small and do not operate on a 24-
hour basis. The United States similarly staffs the 135 Canada-
US land-border points as well as pre-clearance facilities at
eight Canadian airports, but, given its much denser population
base, maintains many more inland offices, airport facilities,
commercial vessel clearance points, and small marine points.
♦ The land border is more than 5,000 miles long. Policing that
border is a difficult task. Nevertheless, both Canadian and
American officials agree that more than 99 percent of the people
who cross the border are properly documented, do so for
legitimate purposes, and do not pose a risk to either country.