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Buffalo · Niagara Falls · Fort Erie · Queenston
Which Niagara bridge should you take right now?
Compare the Peace, Rainbow, Whirlpool Rapids and Lewiston–Queenston bridges using official directional waits, crossing eligibility and a conservative detour guardrail.
Eligibility vetoes firstWhirlpool is NEXUS-only. Rainbow never becomes a truck option.
Direction never crosses wiresCBP is U.S.-bound. CBSA is Canada-bound where it publishes the crossing.
A shorter wait is not automatically fasterAlternates must clear a conservative bridge-switch buffer.
Current crossing decision
Tell us your direction, traveler type and normal bridge.
Your normal bridge anchors the detour calculation. The engine will only send you elsewhere when the evidence is strong enough.
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Loading official crossing data…
Static crossing rules remain valid even if a live feed fails.
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Rainbow Bridge
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Whirlpool Rapids
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Lewiston–Queenston
Loading…Detour rule: the bridge-switch buffer is intentionally conservative. It is a guardrail against bad detours, not a claim to know your exact live route time.
Geography matters
Four bridges, different jobs
Lewiston, NYLewiston–QueenstonQueenston, ON
Niagara Falls, NYWhirlpool · NEXUSNiagara Falls, ON
Falls district, NYRainbowFalls district, ON
Buffalo, NYPeaceFort Erie, ON
Schematic only—not turn-by-turn navigation. Your normal bridge is used as the route anchor before any alternate is recommended.
Official approach context
Traffic cameras and road conditions
Cameras are evidence, not a wait-time measurement. These links stay on the official traveler-information systems rather than using brittle embeds.
Why links instead of fake integration? The documented 511 APIs require developer keys. Until those are provisioned, the engine does not silently scrape them or pretend approach incidents are integrated.
Crossing eligibility
The rules that never disappear when a feed goes stale
Peace Bridge
Passenger, commercial, bus, pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
Rainbow Bridge
Passenger vehicles, buses, trailers, pedestrians and bicycles. No commercial trucks.
Whirlpool Rapids
NEXUS autos only. No trucks, pedestrians, bicycles or anything in tow.
Lewiston–Queenston
Passenger, commercial, buses, trailers and bicycles. No pedestrians.
Travel hazards
Weather alerts that could affect the approaches
NWS and Environment Canada alerts are shown as context. They do not override bridge-owner closure authority.
Active alerts
Checking official alert feeds…
Source health
Checking official sources…
How the decision works
The engine first removes crossings the traveler cannot use. It then removes closed or unusable choices, checks freshness and material source conflicts, compares only the correct direction, and applies a conservative switching buffer to alternatives. A bridge with a smaller customs wait does not win unless it also clears the detour guardrail.
Authority hierarchy
- Bridge operations and static restrictions: Peace Bridge Authority for Peace; Niagara Falls Bridge Commission for Rainbow, Whirlpool Rapids and Lewiston–Queenston.
- Entering the United States: U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
- Entering Canada: Canada Border Services Agency for Peace, Rainbow and Lewiston–Queenston. NFBC provides Whirlpool’s NEXUS-only operator context because Whirlpool is absent from CBSA’s published 30-crossing wait feed.
- Approach roads: NITTEC, 511 New York and Ontario 511.
- Weather alerts: National Weather Service and Environment and Climate Change Canada.