System outage halts commercial traffic at Peace Bridge

Commercial truck traffic into Niagara was halted overnight on Monday after a nationwide Canadian border system failure temporarily shut down crossings at the Peace Bridge, Rainbow Bridge and Queenston-Lewiston Bridge.

The outage froze cargo processing systems used by the Canada Border Services Agency, stranding trucks overnight and causing long lineups.

Passenger vehicles were not affected.

“We’re running things through right now, just everything’s manual,” said Mark Zuccarelli, operations supervisor with the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority.

“The system is still down, but we’re processing vehicles slowly through the border, through the emergency system,” he told Fort Erie Radio late Tuesday morning.

Authorities on both sides of the border, including New York State Police and transportation officials, were dispatched to manage the congestion.

The Peace Bridge reopened to commercial traffic by mid-morning on Tuesday, though delays remained as trucks worked their way through the backlog.

Border officials have not said what caused the failure.

Travellers are advised to expect residual delays as commercial carriers clear the crossings.

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