WINDSOR, Ont. (Jan. 20, 2004) — A company proposing to build a commercial vehicle customs processing and traffic control centre on the outskirts of Windsor, Ont. has begun field-testing high resolution cameras on the primary artery leading to and from the Ambassador Bridge.

Windsor-based Border Gateways Inc. will station the cameras along Huron Church Road. These cameras, which will form part of the traffic management system being developed by the company, will eventually be deployed on specified routes leading to the three present vehicle border crossings entering the U.S. at the Port of Detroit: the Ambassador Bridge, the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, and the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry.

“This camera system would give us the ability to monitor and react to real-time traffic conditions on truck routes leading to the crossings from our facility,” said Border Gateways president Ann Arquette in a press release, “This would enable our truck traffic controllers to determine if any impediments to the smooth traffic flow exist such as accidents and other emergencies.”

Border Gateways will make the field testing images of both north and southbound Huron Church Road available on its website tomorrow.

In 2002 the company submitted a proposal to the Canada-Ontario Joint Management Committee to build and maintain a pre-processing and staging facility, which the company says would help clear up Windsor’s bottlenecks and border traffic congestion. The company has an option on 150 acres outside the city within 25 kilometers of the three crossings.

Meanwhile the owners and operators of the Ambassador Bridge are expected to announce tomorrow that they will begin “pre-processing” vehicles at their Industrial Rd. location.