Roads severed at the US-Canada border

[Pete from Boston]

Looking on Google Maps around the US-Canada border, and most particularly between Québec and Vermont and New York (there are far fewer in the West), there are a lot of tiny local roads that run up to the border, stop, then immediately resume their course on the other side.

Based on their trajectories, it seems obvious that these pairs are each parts of a single, severed road. 

My question is, does anyone know the background of how, when, why such severings took place?  It seems safe to assume that a lightly-used crossing would be closed, but I am curious if these were all staffed crossings, and if they were closed gradually, en masse, or what.

[NE2]

There are some listed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canada%E2%80%93United_States_border_crossings#Closed_road_crossings

More here about US 75: http://usends.com/70-79/075/075.html

[agentsteel53]

hot dang, I wish I had known about the old Pigeon River crossing.  that was once a terminus of US-61.  I was there in Dec 2012 and didn't explore the area well enough.

[Pete from Boston]

There are some listed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canada%E2%80%93United_States_border_crossings#Closed_road_crossings

More here about US 75: http://usends.com/70-79/075/075.html

Thank you, that's way more interesting detail than I would have expected. 

[cl94]

A lot of these weren't staffed. Take this town straddling the border in Vermont. Really screwed things up in that small town when Homeland Security decided that everyone had to go through customs. Hell, the library (mostly in Canada) has an entrance in Vermont. Certainly isn't the only town like that. This here is why the border should be open, but I digress.

[agentsteel53]

Derby Line is horseshit.  if little Johnny bounces a ball into the neighboring country, does he have to fill out export forms?

during my only visit to Derby Line, I walked three feet into Canada to better compose a photo of a STOP sign, and was detained by the US border patrol for four hours.  their last words to me were "stay away from Canada!"

right.

[bandit957]

Why does Derby Line put up with Homeland Stupidity's nonsense?

If I was the mayor or police chief of that town, I'd have Homeland Stupidity arrested. (Do they have a mayor?)

This is why I support the Community Rights Movement.

[bugo]

hot dang, I wish I had known about the old Pigeon River crossing.  that was once a terminus of US-61.  I was there in Dec 2012 and didn't explore the area well enough.

I knew about it from this website:

http://www.deadpioneer.com/routes/US61/historicus61se/oldborderroad/oldborderroad.html

It makes me want to visit Minnesota just to drive this stretch of old highway.

[oscar]

At the north end of US 75, it appears that you can walk a few feet past the border monument into Manitoba, until you get to the barricade blocking the road.  While I saw nobody on either side of the border watching me, I worried that there might be remote surveillance, and I might get hassled by CBP.  The I-29 crossing into the U.S. from Winnipeg was my most unpleasant encounter ever with CBP (thorough secondary vehicle search), which I didn't wish to repeat, so I just drove right up to the border monument then turned back. 

I might add that there's no end sign marking the exact terminus of US 75, so it doesn't necessarily reach the border monument.

[Duke87]

I might add that there's no end sign marking the exact terminus of US 75, so it doesn't necessarily reach the border monument.

As far as I'm aware neither the state nor AASHTO has modified their definition of it, so it still officially ends at the border.

[oscar]

I might add that there's no end sign marking the exact terminus of US 75, so it doesn't necessarily reach the border monument.

As far as I'm aware neither the state nor AASHTO has modified their definition of it, so it still officially ends at the border.

Clinched Highway Mapping puts the end about a hundred meters or so south of the border, rather than right on the border.  Maybe MnDOT shapefiles, or other official route definition data, exclude from the route the old U.S. customs area.

[froggie]

MnDOT's logpoint still has US 75 up to the border.  I'm not sure why CHM has the end short of the border...wasn't that way when I initially created the Minnesota files.

[Pete from Boston]

A lot of these weren't staffed. Take this town straddling the border in Vermont. Really screwed things up in that small town when Homeland Security decided that everyone had to go through customs. Hell, the library (mostly in Canada) has an entrance in Vermont. Certainly isn't the only town like that. This here is why the border should be open, but I digress.

How did unstaffed crossings work? 

And what, exactly, goes on here?

[vdeane]

How did unstaffed crossings work? 

You crossed, and nobody cared.  Before 9/11, customs was just a formality, but then the federal government decided that the existence of Canada was a security risk.

And what, exactly, goes on here?

Presumably the road is treated as American for border crossing purposes since there's nothing on the Canadian side except half a cemetery and a turnaround where the pavement ends.

[1995hoo]

A lot of these weren't staffed. Take this town straddling the border in Vermont. Really screwed things up in that small town when Homeland Security decided that everyone had to go through customs. Hell, the library (mostly in Canada) has an entrance in Vermont. Certainly isn't the only town like that. This here is why the border should be open, but I digress.

How did unstaffed crossings work? 

....

There's an unstaffed crossing in the Northwest Angle that requires you to report via videophone. There's no Street View, but you can find various YouTube clips of the border crossing if you do a Google search for "northwest angle customs."

[Pete from Boston]

How did unstaffed crossings work? 

You crossed, and nobody cared.  Before 9/11, customs was just a formality, but then the federal government decided that the existence of Canada was a security risk.

So odd, because they still gave the third degree at the staffed crossings before 9/11.  I was seldom made to feel it was "just a formality."

[oscar]

A lot of these weren't staffed. Take this town straddling the border in Vermont. Really screwed things up in that small town when Homeland Security decided that everyone had to go through customs. Hell, the library (mostly in Canada) has an entrance in Vermont. Certainly isn't the only town like that. This here is why the border should be open, but I digress.

How did unstaffed crossings work?  ....

There's an unstaffed crossing in the Northwest Angle that requires you to report via videophone. There's no Street View, but you can find various YouTube clips of the border crossing if you do a Google search for "northwest angle customs."

On the flip side, the small airport on Pelee Island, Ontario I visited last week (an "international airport" only because it's so close to Ohio) had a sign instructing people flying in from outside Canada to call Canadian border authorities immediately on arrival (just a regular toll-free phone number, no videophone) unless they belong to Canada's CANPASS pre-clearance program.  In the summer, there's a staffed border inspection facility at the island's ferry terminal for people and vehicles arriving on the seasonal ferry service from Sandusky, Ohio; summer arrivals at the airport may be instructed to go there for inspection.   

[cl94]

How did unstaffed crossings work? 

You crossed, and nobody cared.  Before 9/11, customs was just a formality, but then the federal government decided that the existence of Canada was a security risk.

So odd, because they still gave the third degree at the staffed crossings before 9/11.  I was seldom made to feel it was "just a formality."

Certainly was that way in New York. Show your license and you were on your way. Could take anything across, including take-out food that you're bringing home from the other country.

[Duke87]

How did unstaffed crossings work? 

You crossed, and nobody cared.  Before 9/11, customs was just a formality, but then the federal government decided that the existence of Canada was a security risk.

It doesn't help that a lot of people after 9/11 for whatever reason arrived at the conclusion that the hijackers entered the US via Canada. This turned out to not be true but many Americans continue to erroneously believe that it is, including the former secretary of homeland security herself and a former presidential candidate.

To be fair, though, while none of those terrorists entered the US from Canada, there have been other documented instances of nefarious individuals attempting to enter the US from Canada but getting caught by CBP.

You also then do have the issue of home-grown threats in both countries. The man responsible for yesterday's shootings was a Canadian citizen, native born.

[bandit957]

You also then do have the issue of home-grown threats in both countries.

In the United States, homegrown terrorism is a far more serious threat than international terrorism. Of course, The Media ignores this threat.

Homegrown terrorism should be a priority front and center by every law enforcement agency in the land.

[english si]

You also then do have the issue of home-grown threats in both countries. The man responsible for yesterday's shootings was a Canadian citizen, native born.

But unless an organisation like RCMP, CIA, FBI, Homeland Security or whatever had flags on him, there's no reason why he couldn't have attacked targets south of the St Lawrence, rather than Ottowa.

Home-grown terrorism is clearly a threat that US officials must take seriously else there would have been more attacks that reached implementation. The Media, of course, will ignore it - even in the UK, which has had 4 or 5 attacks that were implemented by home grown (two falling flat on their face - 22/7 and Glasgow Airport and two that very much shocked the nation - 7/7 and the beheading of soldier Lee Rigby as he walked along the street) it is mostly ignored save for just after an attack (other than occasionally the publishing of a figure of foiled attempted attacks and thanking the police and security services for stopping them).

It's a good idea for the media to ignore it - alienating those of brown skin by stirring up fear of Islamist terror is going to help recruit more people to the terror groups. Of course they aren't all poor disaffected young men (one of the Glasgow Airport attackers was a middle-aged doctor, for instance).

[bugo]

You also then do have the issue of home-grown threats in both countries.

In the United States, homegrown terrorism is a far more serious threat than international terrorism. Of course, The Media ignores this threat.

Homegrown terrorism should be a priority front and center by every law enforcement agency in the land.

Why is Cliven Bundy not in jail awaiting trial for terrorism and treason?

[bugo]

Is the story about the Muslim who beheaded a woman in Oklahoma getting much national media attention? It got a lot here at first.

[sdmichael]

I found it rather sad when I was watching Canadian television (CBC news) in mid-2006. I learned that the Canadian border guards were going to be armed for the first time. Why? Mind you, this is well after the whole 9/11 hysteria here in the US. It was because they were afraid of AMERICANS! Americans had been pulling guns on them, there had been police shootouts, and more. We were the "terrorists", not some other country. Seeing that on their news did not make me feel proud of my country in the least.

The CPB can go to a very hot place as far as I'm concerned, at least when it comes to their internal checkpoints. I was pulled to the side recently at the I-5 San Onofre checkpoint while on my motorcycle. They said I shouldn't have split lanes past the stopped cars (very much legal in California) and even wanted to have my bike sniffed for  ????? Asked me where I was going to and what a sticker was on my bike. The only information I gave them was my citizenship. They don't seem to like the US Constitution and the 4th Amendment.

I bring this up as they apparently have a policy to not "interdict" things as much at the border, but within a certain distance to the border. If security is such a concern for them, why let people past the gate and up to the house windows? Why not keep them far from those windows instead?

[Pete from Boston]

You also then do have the issue of home-grown threats in both countries.

In the United States, homegrown terrorism is a far more serious threat than international terrorism. Of course, The Media ignores this threat.

Homegrown terrorism should be a priority front and center by every law enforcement agency in the land.

It is.  They take a photograph of every piece of mail ever sent now, and scan our phone, texts, and email.  That's not enough?