Border slowdown: Nearly 289K fewer vehicles crossed Ambassador Bridge so far this year

Border traffic has fallen across the country. CTV Windsor’s Travis Fortnum explains.

Weekend trips to Detroit. Baseball games. Target runs. They’re all taking a hit as Canadians rethink crossing the border.

New numbers show a sharp drop in cross-border traffic through Windsor this year, part of a wider shift in travel habits fueled by political tension, border scrutiny, and a growing urge to spend money at home.

From January through April: 1,731,091 vehicles crossed the Ambassador Bridge — that’s 286,673 fewer than the same period in 2024, according to the Bridge and Tunnel Operators Association (BTOA).

Passenger cars alone were down by 55,020; truck traffic dropped 176,875.

At the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, the dip is more modest — a year-to-date decline of 19,068 vehicles, with 6,581 fewer passenger cars than last year.

The slowdown, felt at crossings across Canada, is being driven by what the Customs and Immigration Union calls a growing reluctance among Canadians to visit the U.S.

“They’re worried about the scrutiny they’re going to face specifically going into the U.S.,” said Union President Mark Weber.

He said front-line CBSA officers are seeing fewer Canadians return — not because they’re stuck — but because they’re not going in the first place.

“Staffing-wise, it’s actually been to our benefit,” Weber added.

“We’re pretty short-staffed generally, so we’ve seen a little bit of an easing up on overtime demands.”

CBSA tells CTV News it hasn’t scaled back staffing despite the slowdown.

At the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, weekday numbers are still strong — thanks to commuters.

But leisure travel is clearly down.

“Normally, Saturday morning, Sunday morning, around 10 or 11 a.m., we’d be backed up,” said Tunnel CEO Tal Czudner. “Now? That’s when you’re seeing the big drops … less discretionary travel, which I think speaks to keeping your money here.”

CBSA data for the final week of May (May 25-31) puts that trend in sharp focus.

Only 372,037 Canadian land travellers re-entered from the U.S., down from 534,598 during the same week last year.

That’s a drop of 162,561 people.

And it may be just the beginning.

Summer staycations?

A new Conference Board of Canada report finds fewer Canadians are making plans to travel into the U.S. at all.

Just 27.1 per cent say they’re likely to visit the States in the next few years — down from 53.2 per cent last fall.

The think tank estimates that shift could redirect up to $8.8 billion into Canada’s domestic tourism sector this year — as more Canadians cancel U.S. trips and stay closer to home.

At the same time, American visitors to Canada are also declining, with a 10.7 per cent drop in land arrivals in April.

But the net effect, experts say, is still a win for Canada’s tourism industry, since Canadians spend far more abroad than tourists spend here.

So as summer approaches, Windsor’s border crossings may feel a little quieter — but tourism hotspots across Canada may be in for a louder season than expected.