The United States and Canada should relax border patrols and improve highways to meet growing trade demands, transportation officials from the two countries said Wednesday.
The Eastern Border Transportation Coalition, calling for free border crossings by 2012, said in a report that projected traffic increases could easily turn existing deficiencies into an economic crisis.The coalition said trade between the two countries is expected to hit $454 billion by 2015, nearly double the $272 billion in 1995.
"With that amount of projected increase in trade, we should be doing everything possible to make travel across the border as convenient as possible," said Irving Rubin, the coalition's executive director.
The report, funded by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, recommended that the two countries consider reducing paperwork requirements at border crossings, sharing personnel and facilities and moving inspection centers away from crossing points to reduce traffic congestion and delay.
The group also called for improving connections to highways, increasing capacity for trucks and expanding bridge crossings. Rubin estimated infrastructure needs at more than $8 billion.
"Although there is not yet an infrastructure crisis, . . . pressure will continue to grow as trade and traffic volumes increase," the coalition wrote. "Given the long planning horizons typically required for major infrastructure projects, it is imperative that action be taken now."