Project History

The Peace Bridge opened in 1927 to commemorate 100 years of peace between Canada and the U.S. and to symbolize the long standing, friendly relationships between the two countries.

Since that time traffic has increased dramatically. In 1967 an engineering feasibility report recommended widening of the bridge to five or six lanes. In 1973 an update report indicated the traffic volumes would not be as high as anticipated and that costs of construction would be much greater. The project did not proceed.

In 1992 planning again began to expand capacity of the bridge and the U.S. plaza in response to growing traffic fueled by expanding U.S.-Canadian trade. Study of many bridge alternatives to the north and south of the existing bridge, and plaza alternatives to the east, west and south of the existing U.S. plaza, led to the PBA decision to construct a three-lane companion bridge to the south, along with improvements to the U.S. plaza - basically on its existing site. The second bridge was designed, fully permitted and bid, ready to begin construction in the spring of 1999.

The project was stopped due to the City of Buffalo's refusal to grant needed land easements to the PBA, public demands that the bridge design be changed to a "signature span," demands for the reclamation of Fort Porter and Front Park on the U.S. side of the bridge, concerns related to air quality, and by subsequent litigation with respect to the environmental processes that had been followed.

In November 2000, the PBA formally asked that all permits and approvals for construction of the three-lane companion bridge be withdrawn. In December 2000, the PBA publicly announced it would undertake a bi-national integrated environmental review that would study various options for capacity expansion and improvements to the U.S. plaza and connecting roads.

The terrorism attacks of September 11, 2001, have required that the Peace Bridge Authority undertake interim plaza improvements and reconfiguration in the U.S. and permanent improvements in Canada to respond to how the border is operated by Customs. While traffic has declined since 9/11 the requirement to improve border functionality, capacity, and security remains.

The primary objectives of the project are:

1. Provide for a Federal Border Inspection Station that meets CBP's security and operational requirements.
2. Provide for operational flexibility and redundancy that will accommodate operational changes at other regional border crossings due to security measures.
3. Provide adequate capacity for the movement of vehicles in expedited release programs.
4. Provide adequate bridge, plaza, and connecting roadway capacity to efficiently and safely serve present and future projected traffic conditions (Year 2040).
   1. Provide direct connections to and from the adjacent highway system and local arterial streets.
   2. Prevent queue ends from reaching adjacent highway and local street systems.
   3. Reduce overall travel times across the border.
   4. Eliminate conflicting traffic movements and improve circulation within the Federal Inspection Station (plaza).
   5. Eliminate or reduce the use of local streets for highway to highway commercial traffic.
5. Provide safe accommodations for bicycle and pedestrian traffic.