Federal officials plan to cut staffing hours at the Vanceboro border crossing in half, from 24 hours a day to 12 hours during peak crossing times.
Starting Sept. 11, anyone in Vanceboro who wants to cross the border into Canada between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. will either have to wait until morning or drive roughly 60 miles to cross from Calais.
On the Canadian side, the more direct drive from St. Croix, opposite the border from Vanceboro, to Calais is about only 32 miles. The winding border follows the Saint Croix River.
There is another border crossing at Forest City Township, which is 40 miles from Vanceboro via routes 1 and 6, but that crossing already is closed between 5 p.m. and 9 a.m.
A traffic volume study of the Vanceboro crossing indicated that 89 percent of the vehicles that cross between St. Croix and Vanceboro do so between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the federal agency that manages points of entry into the United States from other countries. Rail traffic across the border at Vanceboro also “increased significantly” during that time of day, the agency said.
“CBP is constantly searching for better ways to serve the American people,” said Jennifer De La O, the agency’s regional director of field operations. “By reducing Vanceboro’s hours of operation to peak travel periods, CBP will be able to redeploy those resources locally to better serve rail traffic and the Vanceboro, Maine, border crossing community.”
For drivers among the 11 percent of traffic that presently crosses between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., they will have to adjust their schedules or driving routes.
Cheryl Long, a member of Vanceboro’s select board, said that local leaders on both sides of the border have appealed to federal officials to keep the border crossing open 24 hours a day. She said many of Vanceboro’s 100 or so residents have relatives nearby in Canada, he said, and some have dual citizenship.
Since the town’s elementary school closed in 2015, there hasn’t been much in Vanceboro to keep local children busy, Long said. MacAdam, a town of more than 1,000 residents in New Brunswick, is only about 5 miles away, she said, and local families often go there for children’s activities ranging from dance lessons to participation in youth scouting groups.
Closing the border down at 8 p.m. will limit options for area residents on both sides of the border, she said.
“MacAdam offers all that,” Long said. “It’s going to be devastating. The Canadians need us and we need them.”
Vanceboro also has mutual aid agreements with nearby Canadian towns for fire and medical calls, she said. A 12-hour border shutdown every day would prevent help from crossing as well.
“The ambulance sometimes comes from MacAdam [to take patients to the hospital in the New Brunswick town],” she said.
Long said that the border agency is supposed to give the public 30 days notice of any changes to operations, so she is hoping the reduction in hours will at least be delayed until Sept. 22.
“I think it’s a shame,” Long said.
Gene MacDonald, a Hermon resident who grew up in Vanceboro and owns a summer home there, said having round-the-clock access to Canada has long been a lifeline for the remote Maine town.
“It will be devastating to the local economy,” MacDonald said. “For safety reasons, it doesn’t make sense.”
Officials with Customs and Border Patrol did not respond Wednesday to a voicemail message or to an emailed request for additional comment and information.
