1. Vancouver’s Dominance of Trade & Travel Through the Cascade Gateway
David Davidson
Border Policy Research Institute
November 8, 2012

2. Cascade Gateway, BC-WA

3. Cascade Gateway

4. BPRI Intercept Surveys

5. Cascade Gateway, by Residence of Traveler, 2007
Trip Purposes at the
Cascade Gateway, by Residence of Traveler, 2007
Recreation/Vacation
44.1%
56.9%
Shopping
33.4%
4.7%
Family Visit
8.4%
17.4%
Mail
3.0%
0.2%
Airport
2.6%
2.9%
Church
0.6%
2.1%
Doctor/dentist
0.3%
1.2%
School
1.4%
Subtotal: Discretionary
92.7%
86.8%
Work commute
3.1%
4.4%
Business
4.2%
8.8%
Subtotal: Work-related
7.3%
13.2%
100.0%
61% of traffic =
39% of traffic =
Source: BPRI interviews
of ~15,000 drivers in July
2007 and February 2008.

6. Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics and Statistics Canada.

7. Southbound Traffic vs. Exchange Rate

8. Southbound Traffic vs. Exchange Rate

9. Asian Indians per 10,000 Persons 2000 & 2001 Census Data

10. Trade via Truck + Rail Through Blaine Grouped by 2-digit HTS code,
2009, USBTS
US Exports
US Imports

11. Washington State Trade with Canada
Source:

12. Trade via Truck + Rail Through Blaine
State of Origin/Destination, 2009, USBTS data
US Exports
US Imports
Proportion of goods stream associated with given state:

13. BPRI 2009 Field Data: O & D Patterns of Trucks

14. BPRI 2009 Field Data: Trucks Southbound Pacific Highway
Total
Loaded
Empty
1,433
100%
749
684
52%
48%
Non-FAST
1,109
77%
661
88%
448
65%
60%
40%
FAST
324
23% 88
12%
236
35%
27%
73%

15. BPRI 2009 Field Data: Trucks Northbound Pacific Highway
Total
Loaded
Empty
1,367
100%
1,109
258
81%
19%
Non-FAST
1,345
77%
1,096
88%
249
65%
FAST 22
23% 13
12% 9
35%
59%
41%

16. More evidence of the “gorilla”…
Bellingham Costco has milk sales higher than any other
Gasoline sales at Bellingham Costco are among the top 5 in the U.S.
70+ percent of boardings at Bellingham airport are Canadians

17. BPRI publications are available at www.wwu.edu/bpri
Thank You!
BPRI publications are available at
David Davidson