Officials say Sault bridge traffic recovering

Traffic trends at Sault's International Bridge Officials with the Sault's International Bridge discuss the traffic trends of 2023. the Sault chamber of commerce also weighs in.

With the new year, officials with the Sault's international bridge are taking stock of the year that was.

Things are trending in a positive direction, officials said, with a rebound even greater than expected.

"Very much a pleasant surprise to see traffic starting to increase at a rate more than what we had originally expected," said bridge official Peter Petäinen.

Cross-border traffic has come a long way in recent years. The lows of the COVID-19 pandemic are now far off, but the steady climb is still a ways away from where border officials want it to be.

"We've been comparing our 2023 statistics to pre-COVID, 2019,” Petäinen said.

“We're still down about 30 per cent in total traffic, but compared to 2022 we've seen a general increase of about 55 per cent in all of our traffic."

Sault international bridge With the new year, officials with the Sault's international bridge are taking stock of the year that was. Things are trending in a positive direction, officials said, with a rebound even greater than expected. (File)

Visiting Americans make up 15 per cent more of those travellers, bridge officials said. Business travel isn't bouncing back as fast, but the average person ventured across the international bridge much more last year.

"Commercial traffic is up about 2 ¼ per cent,” Petäinen said.

“Our commuter traffic is up significantly more, but that's customers changing habits and then now starting to cross the border again.”

Those changing habits is not ideal, according to representatives of the business community on the Canadian side.

The local chamber of commerce president was glad to see fewer Saultites taking trips to the United States.

"It keeps those dollars local,” Rory Ring said.

“What we're seeing right now, as we've worked really hard as a chamber of commerce to promote supporting your local businesses. I think we've seen more and more people becoming aware that traveling across the border to do shopping is actually a hindrance to your local economy."

In the short term, Petäinen said he expects that the arrival of snow will increase border traffic, with tourists traveling to the Canadian Sault, and Michigan's Upper Peninsula for winter weather sports.

If the trend of the last couple of years continues, it will take until 2027 at the earliest for the International Bridge's numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels.