Fact Sheet

With more than 200,000 commercial vehicles and barely over 590,000 passenger vehicles, the Alexandria Bay Land Port of Entry, is the sixth busiest crossing for U.S.-bound commercial vehicles along the U.S. border with Canada.

Also known as the Thousand Islands Border Station, the land port is located on Wellesley Island, New York, in the western straits of the St. Lawrence River.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Veterinary Services, and Food and Drug Administration inspect and process vehicles and individuals entering the United States from Canada. The General Services Administration owns, operates, and maintains the facility.

The project is in a two-phase $215 million construction project that began in summer 2017. GSA in June 2017 awarded a contract to Northland/Cianbro Joint Venture based in Pittsfield, Maine.

The majority of the port will be constructed of concrete and metal. Approximately 7,900 cubic yards of cast-in-place concrete is estimated to be used for phase 1 and 17,100 cubic yards for phase 2.

The completed land port will feature larger queuing and secondary inspection areas, more inspection lanes, and better-defined truck queuing and maneuvering areas in addition to many other enhancements. The existing roadways will be shifted, lengthened, or altered to accommodate the new port operations.

All 14 new primary lanes will be equipped to process passenger traffic with eight of those equipped for both commercial and passenger vehicles. This is an increase of five passenger lanes and five commercial lanes as compared to that of the existing facility.

In addition to expanded primary lanes and commercial dock space, a modern facility will provide CBP officers with a workplace that allows them to fulfill their duties and also meets current, modern design standards. The new facility will include the following:

• New administration building;
• New commercial inspection building and warehouse with seven docks;
• New non-intrusive inspection building;
• New maintenance building;
• New and expanded commercial vehicle queuing, inspection, and parking areas;
• Seven new split-level booths, canopy and inspection lanes suitable for both commercial and noncommercial primary inspection, including one over-sized commercial lane with expansion capability for four additional lanes;
• Seven non-commercial vehicle inspection lanes (includes one lane dedicated to NEXUS and one dual use) and booths with canopy and expansion capability for three additional lanes;
• One new bus lane;
• New export control building and associated traffic lanes, including a secondary export inspection area with canopy for two non-commercial vehicles;
• Broker office space in the commercial building;
• New livestock processing (Veterinary Services) facility with wastewater treatment.

The majority of people crossing in passenger vehicles are tourists traveling from the Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto and Montreal regions, with some travelers bound for the U.S. for business reasons. Agriculture include commercial shipments of potatoes, lettuce, yeast and many shipments of corn that is refined to produce ethanol.

Phase 1 includes construction of a commercial inspection warehouse with inspection bays, commercial inspection lanes (with split-level booths for commercial and non-commercial traffic), impound lot, and a portion of elevated parking. Phase 1 also includes acquisition of necessary parcels of land from Jefferson County and New York State Department of Transportation.

The contract option for Phase 2 is expected to be exercised in 2018, subject to receipt of congressional appropriations. Phase 2 includes construction of a new main administration building, a new outbound inspection facility, a new veterinary services building, non-commercial inspection lanes, a new non-commercial secondary inspection plaza, ancillary inspection facilities, and employee and visitor parking areas.

Energy and sustainability goals:

• Achieve LEED Silver
• Design addresses the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007
• Performed a climate risk analysis during the design in accordance with EO 13514

Primary tenants:

• DHS - Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• DHS - U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• HHS - U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• USDA - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
• U.S. General Services Administration