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Rajat Rajbhandari, Ph.D. Texas Transportation Institute (Texas A&M University System) Measuring Traffic Congestion at International Border Crossings How RFID Technology Is Being Used to Measure Wait Times of Trucks Entering US from Mexico 2
International Border Crossings as Freight Gateways Speaker s company logo here 3
Total Trade in Billion US$ Flow of Trade and Commerce 700 600 500 400 300 With Canada With Mexico 200 100 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 4
Number of Trucks Millions Flow of Trucks into US 8 7 6 5 4 3 From Mexico From Canada 2 1 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 5
Where are Trucks Coming From Approx 3000-5000 twin plants or maquiladoras in border towns of Mexico Part of MX Border Industrialization Plan NAFTA facilitated its increase Free Trade Zones (temporarily import raw material, process them, and send the processed good to origin-country) Small portion of trucks come from sea ports in Mexico 6
How Do Trucks Enter US City agencies, county, MPOs 7
Balancing Trade and Security Whereas we once talked about trying to find a balance between trade and security, I submit that doing so does justice to neither. Security and the facilitation of trade are two sides of the same coin. Each reinforces the other. We can secure and expedite legitimate trade and travel through risk segmentation. Former Commissioner Alan Bersin in a Speech to Western Cargo Conference, San Diego, 2010. Pre-Clearance of Supply Chain Moving the border Supply Chain Visibility 8
Waiting Game Continues 9
Waiting Game Continues 10
Why are Border Crossings Congested GAO report from 2000: Staffing shortages at border crossings. Insufficient use of technology to processing incoming traffic. Scarce space for expansion of inspection facilities. Inadequate roads leading to certain checkpoints. Poor coordination between US and MX governments. Blame is on both sides of the border 11
What to Measure for Monitoring Congestion Wait Time = Time required to travel from start of queue in MX to reach CBP s inspection booth 12
Why Measure Wait Times Add Capacity? You Can t Manage What You Can t Measure Were Improvements Effective? Decisions Add Personnel? Inform Truckers 13
Why Reduce Wait Time Shippers and Carriers Lower Cost of Shipping Goods General Public Lower Environmental Impact DOTs Lower Impact of Freight Bottlenecks Enforcement Agencies Increase High Risk Targeting 14
So, How Long Do Trucks Take to Enter US (Wait Time) Depends on Border crossing Time of day Shipment type Enrolled in Pre-Clearance Program Who you ask 15
RFID Measures Wait Times RFID Reader and Antenna DPS US Cust oms MX Cust oms Processing Time Wait Time Crossing Time 16
Pilot Test in El Paso, Texas Tests at Bridge of the Americas (1000 trucks a day) Funded by Federal Highway Administration (USDOT) GPS data more expensive in the long run Coordinated with USDOT, DHS, MX Govt. to install equipment Trucks already carry one or more transponders (passive) Multi protocol TRANSCORE (Encompass 4) readers US$70k-100k per Station Success Huge transponder penetration, large sample of truck wait times available!!! Approx 600 transponder (trucks) reads a day 17
Pilot in El Paso, Texas Exit of DPS Facility US Pictures of installation, Transponder penetration, type of transponders, Cost CBP Primary Booth in US Overhead Sign in MX 18
Success!! Subsequent Deployments Mariposa Port of Entry Bridge of the Americas Zaragoza Bridge Camino Colombia Bridge TTI El Paso World Trade Bridge Source: Google Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge Veteran s Memorial Bridge 19
Overall Deployment Statistics 5 border crossings 15 stations > 50 lanes equipped > 30 RFID readers > US$2.5 Million Paid for by State DOT and USDOT 20
More Deployment Coming Mariposa Border Crossing, Arizona Paid for by Arizona DOT Wait time and crossing time of NB trucks Similar setup, except MX Telecom Carrier to communicate data, Transponder distribution (~ 2000) Zaragoza Border Crossing, Texas Paid for by Texas DOT and USDOT Wait time and crossing time of NB trucks Similar setup Wait time of passenger vehicles (SB and NB) may not be RFID technology 21
Transponder Count Approx 60% of Trucks are Identified 22
Closer Look at Wait Time 23
Wait Time Trends Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 24
Closer Look at Wait Time Daily % of Trucks Delayed 25
Closer Look at Wait Time Average Delay per Truck 26
Closer Look at Wait Time Daily Total Delay (not 100% of Trucks) 27
Closer Look at Wait Time Monthly Total Delay (not 100% of Trucks) 28
Closer Look at Processing Times in US 13% 1% 4% 16% 82% 4% 17% 62% 0-10 Min 10-20 Min 20-30 Min >30 Min 29
How is Data Being Used?? Legislative testimonials Trade group advocacy Operational improvement Infrastructure improvement 30
In Conclusion Data for decisions Role of technology in eliminating the guess work in decision making More investments in quantifying transportation problems RFID technology will continue to be part of solutions to Transportation problems Crystal ball Future of RFID technology? 31
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Contact Rajat Rajbhandari, Ph.D., PMP Texas Transportation Institute (Texas A&M University System) Email: rajat@tamu.edu Phone: 915.532.3759 33
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