Evaluation of Advanced Information Technology at the Peace Bridge. Final Report

摘要

In 1993, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) committed the United211u001eStates, Canada and Mexico to facilitate movements of people and goods among the 211u001ethree member countries. In a subsequent agreement in February, 1995, Canada and 211u001ethe United States agreed to establish the Accord on Our Shared Border. The Accord 211u001ecommits both governments to promoting international trade by permitting 211u001ecommercial goods to flow easily between the two countries and to facilitating the 211u001emovement of people by eliminating unnecessary impediments to cross-border travel. 211u001eSeveral projects, including the North American Trade Automation Prototype (NATAP) 211u001eprogram, have focused on developing improved technology for sensing, inspection, 211u001eand communication that could reduce delays to commercial traffic (trucks and 211u001etrains) crossing the U.S.-Mexican and U.S.-Canadian borders. One of the NATAP 211u001epilot studies was conducted at the Peace Bridge, a major border crossing facility 211u001ejoining Buffalo, New York and Fort Erie, Ontario. The project at the Peace Bridge 211u001eis often referred to as the Intelligent Transportation Border Crossing System 211u001e(ITBCS) project, and that nomenclature is used extensively in this report. The 211u001eITBCS technology is a transponder (tag) based system. The transponders identify 211u001eload-driver-vehicle combinations moving across the bridge and are intended to 211u001ehelp expedite both customs and immigration processing. The results presented here 211u001eare derived from a study that focused heavily on simulation of operations at the 211u001ePeace Bridge border crossing. Using simulation, we evaluated the impacts that 211u001emight occur if the ITBCS technology were deployed permanently and on a pervasive 211u001ebasis. We also conducted an investigation of the institutional issues that arose 211u001eduring the pilot study and those that would have to be overcome to achieve 211u001epermanent deployment.