Long weekend cross-border travel: What you need to know

The Civic Holiday long weekend is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year in Canada. When it comes to crossing the border, what do you need to know?

The Civic Holiday long weekend is one of the busiest travel weekends of the year in Canada.

Falling right in the middle of summer road trip season, many Canadians will be headed south to the United States for a brief vacation.

When it comes to crossing the border, what do you need to know?

CTV News Ottawa's Patricia Boal spoke to Charles Fisher, the Canada Border Services Agency's chief of operations at the Pigeon River and Thunder Bay ports of entry, for some tips on making your cross-border travel as smooth as possible.

The interview below has been lightly edited for clarity.

Patricia Boal: If people are stressing out about how much time it will take them to get across the border, there is a pretty simple step you can do before you head out.

Charles Fisher: CBSA publishes border wait times at the busiest ports of entry across Canada and there's a link right on the front page of the CBSA website, so if you're wondering how long the lineup is at a particular border crossing, you can look it up. They're updated hourly. If the lineup is too long at the place you're planning on going, you can do some quick math and maybe figure out if another border crossing would be faster for you.