Put patience on your checklist if you're planning to drive south this summer -- construction at the Peace Arch border is expected to snarl traffic starting this long weekend.
At busy times, U.S. customs usually opens eight inspection booths. But beginning Monday, four of them will be shut down to build a border facility with two more booths by 2010, officials say.
"It's crucial that we provide the most efficient and enhanced way to get across the border that we can. And that's the purpose of the construction project at Blaine," said Bill Lesh of U.S. General Services Administration.
And on top of that, the I-5 highway is going to be slowed because of construction, say officials.
"Normally we try and avoid the holiday weekend but we've got concrete panels that are breaking, they're creating large pot holes," said Dustin Terpening of the Washington State Department of Transportation.
"That's going to mean long, long delays to anyone hoping to head south. We're expecting anywhere 30 minutes or greater, two- to three-mile long back-ups," said Terpening.
Construction on the border booths is scheduled to continue through the peak summer travel seasons this year and next year into 2010.
But officials say that 10 inspection booths will open before the Olympics.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Michele Brunoro
