Does anyone know if there's a place where you can bike into the US? I really have no idea if its possible. Somewhere from southern Ontario into NY ideally.
Does anyone know if there's a place where you can bike into the US? I really have no idea if its possible. Somewhere from southern Ontario into NY ideally.
I see bicycles crossing the Peace Bridge from Fort Erie to Buffalo. Also pretty sure you could use the Rainbow bridge from downtown Niagara Falls.Originally Posted by micah356
I have cycled across the Queenston-Lewiston bridge, and also taken the ferry from Wolfe Island to Cape Vincent, NY.
Thanks guys, that's very helpful. No idea where I might go, just wanted to check out the options.
I have cycled the Peace Bridge ( must ride on road) also the Queenston Bridge.
Peace Bridge is safer, as Queenston is a truck route
The Peace bridge has more truck volume than the QL does. Not that that makes it any less safe. I do see bicycles crossing the Peace bridge quite often and they are always on the sidewalk.
I'm fairly certain you can walk/bike across any border between the US and Canada
I don't think you can walk/bike the tunnel between Windsor and Detroit (whole different area, I know). Not sure about the Michigan-to-Ontario bridges.
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Originally Posted by bragi
"However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
I used to use the tunnel quite often when I pulled tankers, and you are correct. There is no provision for pedestrians or cyclists. there is a shuttle bus, but I'm not sure it takes bikes.
The Ambassador Bridge is a perpetual construction zone. Never seen a bike on it in the 40 or so years I've been crossing it.
If I were biking from Ontario to Michigan, I think I'd use the ferry between Sombra and Marine City.
I looked this up recently (can't remember the link) If you cross Peace Birdge (Fort Erie-Buffalo) or the Queenston-Louiston you have to use the sidewalk. They have a pretty severe grade and lots of trucks so it is really not safe to bike on the bridge. If you cross Rainbow (Niagara Falls) you have to bike on the road. You can't bike or walk on the Whirlpool Bridge. Somewhere on the bridge comission site they detail the rules. If you figure out where you are going just look it up because it is best not to break the rules at the crossings. Those guards can be pretty severe if they don't like your actions.
Corrections. Queenston-Lewiston no longer accepts bikes or pedestrians. The other two still allow bikes. Rainbow only charges 50¢ for bikes even though they have to ride on the road which is nice.
+1
Rainbow bridge.
If I can, I cross the border as close to dawn as possible; there's a lot less traffic.
My route of travel this summer (W. Mass to Algonquin Prov. Park) will take me across in the neighborhood of either the Ogdensburg–Prescott International Bridge or the Seaway International Bridge (Three Nations Crossing). Does anyone know if either of these allow bicycles/pedestrians?
FWIW department: I received an email from one cyclist regarding Ogdensburg: no bikes & no shuttle. I called S.I.: yes bikes (caution recommended crossing the expansion joints). Guess I'll be going by way of the latter.
This was earlier today on the US side of the Queenston Lewiston Bridge.
Fact is, there is no check point on the Canadian side, so who's going to stop ya?
I was stopped beside him for a few minutes, and we had a bit of a chat. His riding partner was in another line further left. They were riding from North Dakota to Bar Harbor Maine. They had just ridden across the north shore of lake Erie. I thought of it too late to ask him where they crossed the border from Michigan to Ontario.
Edit: I also should have asked him how he accessed the bridge. The only way I can see doing it is if there is a pathway from Portage Road across the inbound lanes between customs and the toll booth, or maybe past the toll booth. Riding the expressway from Stanley Avenue is certainly not an option.
Next time I'm down there riding the Niagara trail, I'm gonna check that out.
Last edited by Dan Burkhart; 09-01-12 at 08:41 PM.
Postscript on the Seaway International bridge located in Cornwall, Ont. I crossed there in July, heading north. The expansion joints were worth a warning. Most of them are no worse than what I'm used to but at the highest point in the crossing, on the north side of Cornwall Island, there are two joints, on either side of the crest that are dangerous. In the direction of the rolling tire, the gap between the overlapping "teeth" is easily 2 inches+ and will swallow most tires (except maybe a Pugsly's). I tried riding through on the uphill and bounced my rear wheel so I decided to walk the bike over the downhill one. Fortunately it's close enough to the top that you don't have any speed behind you yet.
The bridge is a toll bridge but the toll taker was impressed that I was a cyclist and let me through without charging anything.
Last edited by hilltowner; 09-10-12 at 09:27 PM.
How he got on there is a very good question.
I am not aware of any access point. And it goes from highway to boarder crossin pretty quick with walls and everything. However there has to be some kind of access for the people who work at the bridge.
I don't live very far away so I Will ride over and report back.
Please do. I'd be very interested to know. In the old days, before they built the segregated truck lanes, it would have been easy to do, but not now.
You can also take the ferry from Kingston to Wolfe Island and then to Cape Vincent.
2010 Trek 2.1 [105]
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2012 Cannondale CAADX [105]
That, sir, is an awesome pic.This was earlier today on the US side of the Queenston Lewiston Bridge.
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
Is a passport needed to go from or to Canada/USA? Use to go to Canada and Mexico from the USA with just an ID and Birth Certificate. Mexico now requires passport does Canada now?
Yes. There is also an ID card you can use that's issued by the state (I think a special driver's license).
I stop for people / whose right of way I honor / but not for no one.
You can pretty much forget about crossing international borders without a passport these days, with exception of the Euro Zone, which allows free movement without so much as border check points.
Most of us engaged in international movement of goods in North America have a FAST card (Free And Secure Trade.) I still have to have an up to date passport, but all I ever show is my FAST card.
I returned on the ferry after traveling north via the S.I. in Cornwall. I heartily recommend the ferry as the most congenial of the two ways to go across. Unfortunately the Cape Vincent ferry was down for a couple of hours when I arrived (clogged fuel filter or something as it turned out). I spent the time swimming and drying off my clothes. Fortunately it was a gorgeous sunny day.
Well, to be precise, it's not Canada that requires the passport. It's the U.S. that has rescinded the historic and convenient exemption that permitted Canadian and U.S. citizens to enter the U.S. with only a birth certificate. You can still enter Canada with just a U.S. birth certificate and photo ID to prove you are the person on the birth certificate, but you will not be able to get back into the U.S. if you didn't bring your passport. The Canadian border folks will probably point that out to you as you enter Canada, but by then it's too late since you've already left the U.S. You will have the spend the rest of your life living on the bridge high over the Niagara River, unable to immigrate to Canada and unable to return to the U.S. (Kinda like Charlie on the MTA)
"I did not know that!" -- J. Carson
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