US-Canada

April saw a decline of 2.9% in traffic numbers compared to April last year at eleven crossings of the Public Border Operators Association according the spreadsheet they issued today. Traffic during April this year was 2.97m vs 3.06m April 2012, 88k fewer.

Lewiston-Queenston a big trucking route saw traffic down 9.5% -  285k vs 316k last April. 

July was a dull month for traffic at the US-Canada toll crossings, according to partial data from the Public Border Operators Association (PBOA.)

Ambassador Bridge traffic was down12.2k or 2.4% with the lucrative trucks down the most - 12.2k or 6.6% to 172,875 or 5,577 daily average.  NOTE: The obsessive Moroun-bashing/new bridge boosting press corps in Detroit/Windsor usually cite the daily truck traffic at the Ambassador Bridge at 10,000 or 8,000 - a rehash of numbers from some years ago.

2012-06-23: Michigan DOT staff at the Blue Water Bridge (BWB) in Port Huron are hopeful they'll have happier customers this July 4.

Tollers on the eleven crossings on the NY-MI borders with Canada report traffic in March was 3.07m vs 2.93m in March 2011, a rise of 4.9%. Trucks were down a bit 597k vs 609k March last year, so strength was cars 2.46m vs 2.31m 6.7% up.

Numbers are compiled by the Public Border Operators Association (PBOA) which comprise owners of the ten international bridges and one tunnel.

Canada's border staff will be stretched thinner next financial year. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) which conducts immigration and customs checks of motorists from the US has given notice of job termination to 1,100 staff, 325 being front line border inspectors. That's the result of a budget adopted last month which intends to cut the cost to taxpayers of CBSA by C$143m over three years.

Car traffic between the US and Canada was up a healthy 6.6% in 2011, growing to 30.3m from 28.4m in 2010, but truck traffic at 6.7m was flat.  Overall traffic was up 5.3% to 37.14m from 35.26m - all numbers here are the eleven toll crossings as compiled by the Public Border Operators Association.  

Drops in traffic have led Standard & Poor's to downrate the debt of the Blue Water Bridge Canada, the Canadian government owned portion of the Michigan-Ontario bridge north of Detroit. The debt is now 'A-' vs 'A' before.

November truck numbers for the US-Canada border crossings were a bit weaker than in earlier months and the very severe winter in December will make this month weak too. But overall 2010 is likely to see about a 5% increase in traffic at the border to 35m, cars up about 4% to 28.1m, trucks up about 10% to 6.7m.

The Canadians are spending $1.6 billion dollars of their taxpayer money on a beautiful Windsor Essex Parkway (WEP) to serve an international bridge that won't be built - the DRIC bridge or fourth crossing Michigan-Ontario. The recent American elections have brought to power a Republican governor, Rick Snyder, pledged to reduce waste and contain government spending, who has declared he favors the DRIC Bridge so long as it doesn't put taxpayers on the hook.

Truck traffic at US-Canada toll bridges continues to be way up on last year. May truck traffic this year was 574k v 480k in May last year, a rise of 19.7%. Year-to-date numbers are not that much behind 2.77m v 2.39m Jan-May 2009, a 15.6% increase. These are monthly data compiled by the Public Border Operators Association and cover eleven toll crossings Ontario to Michigan and New York state. But what does it mean?