Land port of entry fact sheet

A land port of entry provides controlled entry into or departure from the United States for persons and materials. It houses the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other federal inspection agencies responsible for the enforcement of federal laws pertaining to such activities.

Currently, there are 167 LPOEs at America's borders with Canada and Mexico.  We own and operate 122 of these land ports of entry. The remaining ports are either owned and operated by the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection or are leased to the government by municipalities, other local governments, or private entities such as toll bridges.

Develop, maintain and communicate standard processes and policies.

LPOE construction projects routinely involve a large number of participants, including customer agencies and other stakeholders. It is vital to the successful delivery of a project that consistent processes are implemented and understood by all parties. The Center employs several tools that aid in the standardization of processes and policies, including: 

• The Land Port of Entry Construction Cost Benchmarking Tool
• The Land Port of Entry Design Guide,
• The Security Requirements Tool
• The BorderWizard traffic scope and design program

Provide expedient and reliable program information

The Office of Project Delivery responds to a variety of inquiries regarding our overall program as well as specific projects. For this reason, an expedient and reliable data source is necessary for the credible collection of project and program information. Currently, OPD uses the Project Information Portal and the Border Information Tracking System . These web-based systems generate reports that meet the format requirements of requesting individuals and offices.

Provide individual project guidance and support

Each major project is assigned a Center Program Coordinator who ensures the project follows necessary project standards and directives by:, 

• Reviewing project scopes and design 
• Interacting with customers about their particular design requirements
• Organizing the Center’s independent cost estimate
• Providing overall program expertise

Provide high quality design

Our Design Excellence Program has resulted in LPOE designs that respond to customers’ operational needs while reflecting the stability, security and authority of the United States. We meet civilian federal agencies’ facility and workplace needs by developing projects in partnership with the best qualified architects, designers and artists throughout the United States. The Design Excellence Program has resulted in a portfolio of high quality facilities that, beyond being functional, contribute to the nation’s architectural and cultural legacy of an open and welcoming national frontier.

Provide leadership

In response to the ever expanding and evolving requirements of the border program, we, along with  the DHS/CBP have begun the development of the “Port of the Future” program that addresses these increased demands. This program is developing design guidelines and a design and delivery process that can address changing technologies, expedite project delivery, provide consistent solutions to common problems, support projects in remote locations and maintain the quality of design that our Design Excellence Program promotes.