US Border Wait Times, Live

The live board

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Our chauffeurs cross these bridges for a living — to Buffalo and Niagara Falls NY airports, to Detroit, to New York, on fixed cross-border fares with the right vehicle for the party and, for companies, on a corporate account — and the board is the first thing checked at every cross-border pickup and again at the last exit before the bridge. What the numbers do not tell you is what each crossing is like, which is the rest of this page.

The Niagara frontier: four crossings into New York

Peace Bridge, Fort Erie – Buffalo. The busiest passenger crossing, at the end of the QEW, and the default for Buffalo airport and everything south. Its plaza has many lanes and NEXUS lanes; Friday afternoons, Sunday evenings and holiday weekends are its slow times. The Peace Bridge Authority publishes tolls and conditions.

Lewiston-Queenston Bridge. At the north end of the Niagara gorge off the QEW at St Catharines, the commercial crossing and the one a chauffeur takes to Buffalo or the Thruway when the Peace Bridge is backed up; it is also the fastest to Niagara Falls NY airport from Toronto. Operated by the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission.

Rainbow Bridge. At the foot of Clifton Hill with the Falls in view, the tourist crossing; slow on summer afternoons because the tourists are crossing on foot and by car at once. Right for passengers already in the Falls.

Whirlpool Bridge. A few kilometres north of the Rainbow, NEXUS-only in both directions; the fastest crossing if every passenger in the car holds a card.

Windsor – Detroit: three crossings into Michigan

Ambassador Bridge. The privately operated suspension bridge that carries the largest share of Canada–US trade; passenger vehicles share its plaza with trucks and its US side lands in south-west Detroit near the I-75 and I-96. Its operator's site publishes conditions.

Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. From downtown Windsor to downtown Detroit under the river; the choice for a destination in the Detroit core, with a lower clearance that excludes some vehicles.

Gordie Howe International Bridge. The new publicly owned crossing south of the Ambassador, with its own plazas and a direct connection to the 401 on the Ontario side; the project's site describes it. Detroit Metropolitan Airport is reached from any of the three via I-94.

Sarnia – Port Huron: the Blue Water Bridge

At the end of the 402 west of London, the Blue Water Bridge crosses to Port Huron and I-94 towards Detroit and Chicago; it is the route from London and south-western Ontario to Michigan when Windsor is slow, and the Canadian side's plaza is operated by the Federal Bridge Corporation.

Lansdowne – Alexandria Bay: the Thousand Islands Bridge

Off the 401 east of Kingston, the Thousand Islands crossing leads to I-81 and upstate New York — Syracuse, and the road south to Pennsylvania. Ogdensburg-Prescott and Cornwall-Massena are the other eastern crossings, into the St Lawrence valley.

How a chauffeur chooses the crossing

For Buffalo airport from Toronto: Peace Bridge unless the board says otherwise, then Lewiston-Queenston. For Niagara Falls NY airport: Lewiston-Queenston from the QEW, Rainbow from the Falls. For Detroit from Toronto: the 401 to Windsor and the Ambassador or the Gordie Howe, with the tunnel for downtown Detroit. For Chicago: usually Sarnia and I-94. The decision is made at pickup on this board and confirmed at the last exit; the bridge toll is inside the fixed fare either way, and the cross-border page explains the documents and the timing for each destination.

What the numbers mean, and what they miss

CBP reports the delay in the standard lanes and the NEXUS lanes for passenger vehicles, the lanes open, and the port status, updated roughly hourly at most crossings. The figure is the queue at the booth; it does not include the approach road, which on the QEW at Fort Erie on a Friday can be its own twenty minutes. Nor does it cover the Canada-bound direction — the CBSA publishes those separately, and they are usually shorter. The board here reproduces the CBP figures with a five-minute cache; the source is bwt.cbp.gov.

Documents at every crossing

Every passenger needs a valid passport, a NEXUS card or another CBP-accepted document for land entry, children included; visitors who need a visa or an ESTA equivalent must hold it before the bridge; permanent residents of Canada carry their PR card as well. Children travelling with one parent should carry a consent letter from the other. Declare food, cash over the reporting threshold and anything the officer asks about. The chauffeur asks at pickup whether everyone has documents, because one passenger turned back ends the trip for the car.

Book a cross-border chauffeur with the bridge toll inside the fare

NEXUS, in short

A NEXUS card gives pre-screened travellers dedicated lanes at the land crossings and kiosks at the airports; the Whirlpool Bridge is NEXUS-only, and the Peace Bridge, Lewiston-Queenston and the Windsor crossings all have NEXUS lanes. The lane is usable only when every person in the vehicle holds a card; the CBSA and CBP sites explain enrolment.

Sources

US Customs and Border Protection border wait times for the live figures; the Peace Bridge Authority, the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, the Ambassador Bridge and the Gordie Howe International Bridge for each crossing; the CBSA for the Canada-bound direction and the declaration rules.

A worked crossing

Friday, 3 pm, a family in Burlington heading to Buffalo airport for a 7 pm Southwest flight. The board shows the Peace Bridge US-bound at 55 minutes in the standard lanes and 10 in NEXUS; Lewiston-Queenston at 15 and 5. The family has no NEXUS cards. The chauffeur proposes leaving at 3:20 rather than 3:45, and at Grimsby checks the board again: Peace Bridge 60, Lewiston 20. The QEW continues past Fort Erie to St Catharines, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge is crossed at 4:35, the I-190 south is thirty minutes, and the family is at the departures curb at 5:10, well inside the two-hour cut-off. The bridge toll at Lewiston-Queenston is inside the fare, and so was the Peace Bridge toll that was not paid.

What slows a crossing

Volume — the Friday and Sunday leisure surges, the days around Canadian and US holidays, the shopping weekends; staffing at the booths, which CBP adjusts through the day; construction on the plazas, which narrows lanes for a season; secondary inspections, which pull a car aside for anything from a forgotten apple to a name match; and weather on the approach roads. A chauffeur cannot change any of them; a chauffeur can choose between two bridges, leave twenty minutes earlier, and carry the passengers' documents conversation so that the booth takes ninety seconds.

Canada-bound, briefly

The CBSA publishes its own wait times for the Canada-bound direction, updated hourly at the major crossings, and they are usually shorter than the US-bound figures because the plazas were built for it. The chauffeur's return crossing is planned from that page; the declaration is the passengers'; and the duty-free limits depend on the length of the trip — the CBSA site lists them.

The crossings, at a glance

Documents, by traveller type

Canadian citizens: a valid passport, or a NEXUS card, or an enhanced driver's licence where the province issues one. Permanent residents of Canada: passport and PR card. Citizens of visa-waiver countries: passport and, for air travel, an ESTA — at a land border the ESTA is not required but the passport and the visa-waiver eligibility are. Citizens of other countries: passport and a US visa, obtained before the trip. Children: a passport, or for Canadian and US citizens under 16 a birth certificate is accepted at land crossings, plus a consent letter when travelling with one parent or with neither. The CBP page is the source; the chauffeur checks at pickup.

The border board and the traffic board, together

A cross-border pickup is planned on both: the traffic board for the QEW or the 401 to the bridge, and this one for the bridge itself. On a Friday at 3 pm the QEW westbound may be the larger delay; on a Sunday at 6 pm the bridge Canada-bound is. The chauffeur reads both at pickup and the fare, fixed at booking, reads neither.