More than 260,000 people a day, an annual total of 96 million, entered the United States from Canada by land in 2000 and 94 percent of these border-crossers rode in personal vehicles, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
Two of every five people entering the United States from Canada in 2000 by land crossed the border at Detroit or in the Buffalo-Niagara area, according to the BTS special tabulation. The tabulation includes returning Americans and repeat visitors.
The information about people entering the United States from Canada is contained in North American Trade and Travel Trends, a new BTS publication that examines recent trends in U.S. international trade and passenger travel with Canada and Mexico. The report reviews modal shares of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partner trade and travel, examines the geography of the trade and travel flows, and identifies key influencing factors.
"The report provides important information on cross-border transportation with Canada and Mexico, our largest trading and travel partners," Dr. Ashish Sen, BTS Director, said. "With this report, transportation decision-makers will have more data for decisions about security at border facilities and about capacity needs."
In 2000, almost 800,000 people per day, an annual total of 290 million, crossed U.S. land borders from Mexico, according to the BTS tabulation. The ports of El Paso, TX and San Ysidro, CA handled one-third of these crossings. Overall, 83 percent of these crossings were by personal vehicles while 16 percent were pedestrian arrivals.
On the average day in 2000, trucks moved nearly $1.2 billion in goods with U.S. NAFTA partners, or 66 percent of U.S. total trade with Canada and Mexico.
In 2000, the most heavily traveled land border crossing was Detroit, MI, which processed almost 5,000 southbound trucks carrying $240 million in merchandise on a daily basis. At Laredo, TX, the busiest truck crossing on the U.S. border with Mexico and the second most heavily trafficked for NAFTA trade overall, about 4,100 northbound truck crossings took place daily in 2000, transporting more than $160 million in goods through the port.