This paper was presented at the `Planning for Congestion Management' session. The Buffalo/Fort Erie Public Bridge (the Peace Bridge) is the second busiest crossing for truck movements on the entire Canada/U.S. border; second only to the windsor/Detroit corridor. Today the Peace Bridge carries over $80 million worth of goods per day with truck traffic peaking at about 5,000 per day and auto traffic at about 30,000 per day. It is estimated that the Peace Bridge facility generates about $60 million worth of economic benefits per year to relevant Ontario and New York regions in which the bridge is situated. It is impossible, therefore, to overstate the importance of this link to local, regional and national trade. Since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, truck traffic at the bridge has grown at a prodigious rate. The staff of the Peace Bridge together with their consulting teams area addressing several inter-related operational and infrastructure problems which are generally driven by: the rapid growth in traffic across the bridge, particularly commercial vehicle traffic; the aging bridge infrastructure; and operational complexities caused by rapidly changing vehicle processing technologies. (A)
Abstract