Projections of Washington-British Columbia Trade and Traffic by Commodity, Route and Border Crossings

Abstract

Continuing adaptation to the changing transportation needs of the U.S. and Canada is critical in maintaining efficiency and reducing the costs of raw and manufactured goods. As the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) moves into its twelfth year of existence, there is a growing need to continue adapting to the changing transportation environment. With bilateral trade in excess of $1.2 billion per day between the U.S. and Canada and over 200 million annual crossings (passenger vehicles and freight trucks), knowledge of the composition of commodities crossing the border allow for easier adjustment to and support for the changing needs of industries and transportation providers. Since Washington borders Canada and acts as an international trade hub for the state as well as industries throughout the United States, there is a specific need to evaluate the composition of commodities at its key border ports in order to project future traffic. This project identifies key commodity groups in order to create a profile of major and minor Washington border ports in order to develop traffic projections. The central resource used to create the profile is the Strategic Freight Transportation Analysis (SFTA) database, a compilation of freight origin-destination survey results. The survey, not known to be duplicated by any other state, allows for the decomposition of freight flows by commodity, both northbound and southbound, thus allowing profiles to be created for seven major and minor border ports in Washington. The border ports analyzed are: Blaine/Pacific Highway, Lynden/Aldergrove, Sumas/Huntington, Oroville/Osoyoos, Danville/Carson, Laurier/Cascade, and Frontier/Patterson. Furthermore, SFTA allows for the decomposition of routes, which are used to estimate the flow of freight traffic on major Washington arterials, providing a profile of arterial highway usage by each border port.