Canada-US Border Wait Times

Figures for entering the United States — from either Canada or Mexico — come from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) feed. Figures for entering Canada come from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) feed. Mexican customs publishes no wait times at all, so there is no outbound figure at the Mexican crossings and the cards say so rather than showing a blank. Both feeds are refreshed every 30 minutes — the agencies themselves only publish a few times an hour, so a shorter interval would not produce fresher numbers. The timestamp under each crossing shows when that agency last updated the figure.

The dashboard covers 17 commercial crossings — 13 on the Canadian border and the four busiest on the Mexican border. Southwest: Laredo / World Trade Bridge (Nuevo Laredo–Laredo, the largest commercial crossing in North America), Otay Mesa (Tijuana–San Diego), Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, Nogales / Mariposa. Ontario: Ambassador Bridge (Windsor–Detroit), Peace Bridge (Fort Erie–Buffalo), Blue Water Bridge (Point Edward–Port Huron), Queenston-Lewiston Bridge. West Coast & Prairies: Pacific Highway BC, Huntingdon/Sumas BC, Coutts/Sweetgrass AB, North Portal SK, Emerson/Pembina MB. Quebec & Maritimes: Lacolle/Champlain QC, Rock Island/Derby Line QC, Woodstock/Houlton NB, St. Stephen/Calais NB.

Green (<15 min) — proceed normally. Yellow (15–45 min) — moderate congestion; consider timing your crossing or checking an alternate port. Red (>45 min) — significant delay; route through an alternate crossing if possible.

Yes. PARS (Pre-Arrival Review System) is required for commercial goods entering Canada; PAPS (Pre-Arrival Processing System) is required for goods entering the United States. Both must be transmitted to CBSA or CBP before the truck reaches the port. Missing or incorrect numbers are the single most common cause of commercial vehicle holds at the Canadian crossings on this dashboard. Loads entering the United States from Mexico need a PAPS number too; PARS has no Mexican equivalent, since it is a CBSA programme.

Without a valid USMCA certificate of origin, the shipment loses duty-free status. The carrier or importer must post a duty bond and file a post-entry correction — or the load may be held until the document is produced. On a busy day at the Ambassador Bridge or Peace Bridge, that can mean hours of unplanned dwell time.

US-Canada LTL freight class is governed by the NMFC system and based primarily on density (PCF). Divide total weight in pounds by total cubic feet to get PCF. Under 1 PCF = class 500; over 50 PCF = class 50. Use our free Freight Class Calculator to get the exact class before booking.

Yes. An experienced cross-border broker monitors real-time wait times, pre-clears customs documentation, and routes loads to the least-congested crossing for your specific lane. This routinely cuts border dwell time by 30–60 minutes on busy days. Get in touch to see what we can do for your lanes.