Upcoming Improvements to Wild Horse 

The Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce, along with various partners within the Province of Alberta and State of Montana, have long advocated for improved services at the Port of Wild Horse. Following conversations recently this past fall and winter with the Land Border Crossing Stakeholder engagement team, we were pleased to hear of the planned improvements to the Wild Horse Port of Entry. 

With the Request for Proposal having closed on January 3rd, we look forward to hearing about the next steps on this project, knowing that our port of entry will be significantly improved with office space, a public lobby and washroom facilities, better accessibility, coverage of the primary inspection lane and a detached secondary garage. In addition, there have been recent announcements with US counterparts to provide consistent hours on both sides of the border with the agreement from CBSA on the Canadian side and CBP on the US side. In addition, we anticipate the continuation of extended seasonal hours from 8 am to 9 pm during the summer months.

The overall Land Border Crossing Project consists of improvements to ports of entry across Canada totalling $481 million in a multi-phase infrastructure program, with the Wild Horse Port of Entry being one of the top priorities for improvements. In addition, the Government of Alberta announced improvements to the Eastern Alberta Trade Corridor for highways 36, 41 and 881 to improve the north-south trade corridor on the eastern side of the province, often used as an alternate route to the Canamex Corridor.

You can view our position and recommendations here. While we continue to advocate for the EDI equivalency and hours of operation, this investment and commitment is an important step forward for improvements to the border.

Why this matters: Potential benefits of an improved Wild Horse port include reduced mileage costs for commercial truckers, enhanced economic development in the Eastern Alberta Trade corridor, more effective utilization of staff and facilities at Wild Horse, increasing connectivity of the regions by reducing travel time and uncertainty and improving overall cross-border traffic. It will lower costs for businesses in transportation-related sectors and provide a more direct pathway for north-south traffic and trade across the region. We continue to encourage the development of north/south trade and the ability to remove bottlenecks, delays, restrictions and limitations on crossing times. We also know we need increased usage and demand at the port of entry to justify further improvements in hours and services. We continue to support the work and improvements at the Wild Horse Port of Entry, while promoting usage of Wild Horse.

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