The National Roadside Survey (NRS) is a data collection effort completed by the Canadian Government to collect data from Commercial vehicles. It is conducted along major corridors in Canada. The NRS is conducted about every 5 to 7 years, with the last NRS being conducted in 1999. Part of the proposal for this year's NRS is to have a Border Survey component, where data will be collected at the major border crossings. Data from this effort will provide a rich data set useful to many transportation stakeholders for a variety of planning and project related analyses. The U.S. stakeholders have been partnering with the Canadians in discussion of the development of the survey questions and the actual data that will be collected. In addition, the technology that is also being deployed (WIMs) will remain out in the field, so future data collection activities will continue. The complete plan proposal is contained in the attached full proposal.

The study will participate with the Canadians partners in collecting data for commercial vehicles movement. The partners will receive various end-products and deliverables from the data collection and the full data sets. Those that will be participating in the study will receive the list of deliverables as indicated in the background information. These will be specified in more detail during the actual contract execution.

As indicated in the background materials, our Canadian counterparts will be conducting the surveys. The pool funds resources under this project will be used to cover a portion of the costs associated with the border survey data collection. We will receive the data and various end product deliverables for those participating in the pool fund study.

This effort has been identified as a core data collection tool for bi-national activities identified under the Transportation Border Working Group. There are several noted benefits for the U.S. to participate in this data collection effort.