Metro Vancouver travellers who frequent the Aldergrove-Lynden border to travel between BC and Washington State will have to take an alternative route as a temporary closure is being planned for the checkpoint.
According to the US General Services Administration (GSA), the Kenneth G. Ward Land Port of Entry crossing is “no longer able to meet the operational needs of Customs and Border Protection with an acute impact on international commerce.”
“The port’s limited commercial capability results in unbalanced demand and escalating wait times at other commercial ports throughout Western Washington,” stated the agency in a previous report published in 2023.
In an updated document from November 2024, the General Services Administration provided further details about the project, noting that the Lynden Crossing would be temporarily closed during the construction requiring all traffic to be diverted to the Abbotsford-Sumas port of entry.
It added that design considerations for the expansion are ongoing.
The GSA is also planning improvements to the Abbotsford-Sumas crossing but that would start when the “modernized and Lynden LPOE [land port of entry] is reopened,”
The Sumas point of entry would remain open to pedestrians and privately owned vehicles “to the greatest extent possible” during this construction period, said the agency.
“The land ports of entry in Lynden and Sumas are not only crucial passageways for commercial vehicles but also serve as a bridge between closely-tied American and Canadian communities,” said Sukhee Kang, regional administrator for GSA’s Northwest/Arctic Region, in a press release.
Kang said work will begin on designing new, expanded facilities for the ports of entry.
Construction is expected to start in 2026. Daily Hive has reached out to the GSA regarding the closure length and will update this story when we receive a response.