Source: Adapted from Dr. William Anderson, University of Windsor.

The Effect of a Border on a Transportation Network

The above shows a hypothetical transportation network that is bisected by a border. Since the facilities needed for border inspections are expensive to build and maintain, there are usually only a few (in this case 2) crossings, creating a few links that are subject to congestion and making the whole network vulnerable to the disruption of those links. Naturally this problem is exacerbated when a river forms the border because each crossing requires bridge, tunnel or ferry infrastructure, which are also expensive to build an maintain. For this reason, the goal of complete elimination of border facilities can also lead to more highly connected transportation networks.

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