Niagara Falls Bridge Commission

Case study

The breathtakingly beautiful journey across the Niagara River between the United States and Canada, now flows better and is more secure with the help of a new system that includes video surveillance and access control. The Niagara Falls Bridge Commission (NFBC) owns and operates the Lewiston-Queenston, Rainbow and Whirlpool Bridges. Each year nearly 12 million passages and $32 billion in trade cross the bridges.
Some 160 video cameras and 96 access control points have been placed at the bridges as well as at six U.S./Canadian Customs’ Plazas and the NFBC’s new $5.8 million administrative headquarters in Lewiston, New York. Security functions are housed in the headquarters' Operations Center.

Secure passage
The mission of the NFBC is to make sure the facilities are secure for the safe and efficient movement of people and goods across the border in both directions. Security cameras have been placed at strategic locations along the bridges and at the Customs’ plazas at either end of each bridge. In addition to security, cameras are also used to help to clear up any traffic incident or issues. Depending on traffic conditions, the Operations Center is able to change the direction of the traffic flow in the lanes at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge. Video cameras in each lane enable the operators to view traffic; electronic signs tell the public which lanes are open and which are closed. As tourists, commuters and people transport goods across the three bridges connecting the U.S. and Canadian sides of the Niagara Frontier, a sophisticated array of cameras and access control devices will continue to ensure they have a safe passage. By having a visual verification of the reported problem, the appropriate specialist teams and resources may be deployed more efficiently and quickly to resolve the issues.

To share situational awareness and to help facilitate decision making, the NFBC needed a leading edge fully integrated digital solution that was flexible enough to share their information across multiple agencies and systems.

The future of integrated security
The fully integrated solution allows NFBC to stream both digital streams directly from the Lenel Security system, which includes both live and recorded video streams available from the clustered DVR’s directly to the Barco display wall. This integration allows for future developments for other agencies to view and share their signals to achieve the hallmark interagency cooperation that NFBC is known for.

Since the solution is all digital, the system can be scaled much easier than an analog solution. Michael O’Reilly says “With ground breaking projects like this, it is important to team up and align yourself with people who have a proven track record that can deliver what they promise. Barco and Lenel are those kinds of people. It was and still is a pleasure to work with them throughout this project. Barco was open for development and delivered what it had promised with honesty, professionalism, and integrity.