Thank you.
I'm the general manager of the binational Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority which owns and operates the Peace Bridge and the customs plazas in both Canada and the United States.
The Peace Bridge is at the terminus of the Queen Elizabeth Way, which is a key economic, trade and tourism corridor. The Peace Bridge is currently undergoing a $100-million U.S. self-funded rehabilitation project to be completed in June 2019. The Queen Elizabeth Way corridor serves four international bridges between Canada and the U.S.: the Peace Bridge, the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, the Rainbow Bridge and the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge. Ken will speak about those bridges after me.
In 2017, the Queen Elizabeth Way corridor ranked second in Canada in terms of commercial volume and passenger vehicles. Cars totalled almost 10 million crossings. That's in both directions.
When you compare it to the other crossings, it's amazing actually how much traffic crosses at these bridges. Commercial trucks totalled almost two million crossings. Approximately 85% of all goods traded between the U.S. and Canada move by land transport mode, that is, trucking or rail. Of all U.S.-Canada trade, 54% is transported by truck. The Queen Elizabeth Way corridor accounts for 37% of that trucking volume into Canada and represents an estimated $80 billion in two-way trade annually.
While the Ambassador Bridge carries significantly more commercial traffic than the Queen Elizabeth Way corridor, the nature of that traffic is different in that about 40% to 50% facilitates intra-company automotive trade between the Windsor and Detroit region. The commodity mix within the Queen Elizabeth Way corridor is much more diverse than that at the Ambassador Bridge.
Just to provide some corridor perspective, and Member Badawey will certainly appreciate this, on the Queen Elizabeth Way at Grimsby, halfway between Hamilton and Niagara Falls, the average annual daily traffic, or AADT, is approximately 120,000 vehicles. On Highway 401 at Chatham, halfway between London and Windsor, the average annual daily traffic is approximately 23,000 vehicles, compared to the 120,000 at Grimsby. It's actually quite a stunning number.
The difference is that the Queen Elizabeth Way is not only a trade corridor, but it is also a commuter highway and the primary tourism conduit connecting the greater Toronto area with the attractions of Niagara Falls, the wineries of the Niagara region, the beaches of Port Colborne and Fort Erie, and western New York and the Buffalo region.
Much has been reported about congestion at the borders, often referred to as thickening of the border, and how this impedes the flow of trade and tourism. While infrastructure certainly plays a part, there are much bigger factors in the fluidity of the border. These are the impacts of customs resourcing and management, staffing of booths, which Mr. Comerford spoke about, customs procedures and technology. The best way to describe this is in terms of lift bridges that don't have customs at either end.
As an example, if you came here from Toronto, the Burlington Bay Skyway is eight lanes and carries 150,000 vehicles a day, or a per lane average of 18,750 vehicles. The Garden City Skyway in St. Catharines is six lanes and carries about 90,500 vehicles every day.
Compare that to the Peace Bridge with 14,500 vehicles, or only 4,800 vehicles per lane, or even the Ambassador Bridge with only four lanes but it carries 18,836 vehicles, or 4,700 vehicles per lane. On a per lane basis, the issue is not infrastructure over the river; it's dealing with the customs and procedures at the end of the bridges in either country.
The point I'm trying to make is that border crossings and trade corridors require a multi-departmental approach within government and between government, not just transport. The silos between agencies and governments must be broken down. For example, the federal government is expending over $5 billion on the Gordie Howe bridge, not including the operating costs, which will never be recovered by toll revenue, while at the same time CBSA does not have capital funding for an e-gate program for NEXUS and has approached bridge operators to pay for the capital costs.
No money is allocated for a NEXUS marketing program, even though moving from 25% NEXUS utilization to 50% would eliminate border delays at the Peace Bridge and likely all border crossings.
Unlike the State Department, Passport Canada does not issue RFID passport cards, even though they would significantly improve booth processing times. The Peace Bridge is installing RFID readers in Canada for each inspection lane, with 50% funding from the national trade corridors fund, but there's no commitment to actually do passport cards.
Similarly, RFID-enabled driver's licences are available, but they are not promoted by Ontario's Ministry of Transportation. There are not just issues in Canada; there are also issues in the U.S. U.S. Customs requires regulatory reform to mandate e-Manifest for all commercial trucks and mandatory prepayment of their border crossing fees. Again, that would facilitate exports from Canada into the U.S.
Little is being done to address trade corridor bottlenecks away from border crossings. For example, the mid-peninsula corridor that's been talked about for decades to relieve QEW corridor congestion is not being addressed. In-transit delay is a delay no matter where it occurs.
Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee. I trust my comments will be helpful as you continue your deliberations.