Northwest Cascades is in the North Cascades region of Washington.
This subregion consists of Whatcom County and Skagit County
Bellingham International Airport (BLI) is the primary airport serving the region. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), while located a way to the south of Seattle, is the closest national-grade airport in the USA. Vancouver International Airport (YVR), while across the border in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada, is sometimes convenient.
There are five land border crossing points, between the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada and the Northwest Cascades region of Washington state, USA. They are referred to by different terms in Canada and the US.
| Canadian name | US name | Location | Hours | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douglas (Peace Arch) | Blaine (Peace Arch) | Surrey/White Rock, BC (Hwy 99) – Blaine, WA (I-5) | 24 hours, daily (Nexus: Canada-bound 7am–12am, US-bound 7am–9pm) | Primary border crossing point for passenger vehicles. No commercial traffic allowed. Best Nexus lane access. The US side is undergoing major street and building construction, including minor detours in both directions, until mid-2010. |
| Pacific Highway | Blaine (Pacific Highway) | Surrey, BC (Hwy 15) – Blaine, WA (WA-543) (From Hwy 99 southbound take exit 2A and go along 8 Ave for 1.5km to Hwy 15. From I-5 northbound take exit 275 for WA-543.) | 24 hours, daily (Nexus: Canada-bound 2pm–6pm, US-bound 10am–6pm) | Also known as "Truck Crossing". Primary border crossing point for trucks and buses. Passenger and foot traffic also welcome, with waits usually shorter than at Peace Arch. Canadian and US Customs offices here are better places to ask questions than Peace Arch. |
| Aldergrove | Lynden | Aldergrove, BC (Hwy 13) – Lynden, WA (WA-539, the Guide Meridian) | 8am–12am daily. | Due north of Bellingham. Often has shorter lines than Peace Arch and Pacific Highway, but if you are going to or from Vancouver or the western suburbs the longer drive to Aldergrove usually eliminates this benefit. |
| Huntingdon | Sumas | Huntingdon, BC (Hwy 11) – Sumas, WA (WA-9) | 24 hours, daily. | Convenient to Abbotsford. |
| Boundary Bay | Point Roberts | Delta, BC (56th St) – Point Roberts, WA (Tyee Drive) | 24 hours daily. (Nexus: Canada-bound 9am–9pm summer, 10am–6pm winter; US-bound 11am–7pm) | This crossing is only useful for reaching Point Roberts, the US tip of a Canadian peninsula which extends just south of the 49° N latitude. There is no land access from there to the rest of the USA. |
Visitors travelling to Vancouver by car across the U.S. border should be aware that there are often lengthy lineups at the border, in either direction. During summer, waits at the border can exceed three hours during peak times.
Inform yourself about the waits, and you can either delay your crossing until the lines subside, or choose the quickest crossing, or at least set your expectations. You can see current wait time forecasts for both directions on the Canada Border Services Agency website [13], and for US-bound traffic on the US Customs and Border Protection website [14]. Washington State also maintains graphs of estimated times in both directions [15]. It can be helpful to view webcams of the border lineups; Canada-bound on I-5 [16] and US-bound at most crossings [17]. Two AM stations give regular updates on border lineups in both directions: News 1130 (1130 on the AM dial) every 10 minutes beginning at one minute past the hour, and AM 730 every 10-15 minutes. Electronic signs near the border on I-5, BC 99, and BC 15 give the current wait times at both the Peace Arch and Pacific Highway crossings, allowing you to choose the shorter option.
The Nexus Land program[18] lets travellers who fill out an application and pass a security check use express lanes through US-Canada land borders by presenting a Nexus card. However, you may only use the express lanes if everyone in your car has a Nexus card. There are also Nexus programs for air and marine travel.
Ferries from Alaska and Victoria, Canada dock at the Bellingham Ferry Terminal. Several towns in the region, including Bellingham and Anacortes, have marinas for private boats.
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