Development and implementation of technology to measure truck crossing time at international land ports of entry

Abstract

Public and private stakeholders that operate land border crossings are increasingly concerned about long wait times for trucks crossing from Mexico into the United States. Long wait times are detrimental to the regional competiveness, supply chain operations, the environment in the region adjacent to the border crossings, and to the overall economic development. In order to have reliable and systematic information on border crossing time and delay, a system to measure travel time through the border is required. This paper describes the basic border crossing operations at the Texas/Mexico border that serves as the foundation to identify a technology that could be used to collect border crossing information. The design and deployment processes that were used for the implementation of the border crossing time measurement system for U.S.-bound commercial vehicles are described. The paper also presents the results of the system that was developed to disseminate border crossing and wait time data. Benefits to supply chain operators at land border crossings and next steps in the development of more border-related performance measures are described.