Alexandria Bay U.S. Land Port of Entry

The new U.S. Land Port of Entry at Alexandria Bay serves as one of the busiest crossings between the United States and Canada. The port is located on Wellesley Island, New York, at the northern terminus of Interstate 81 - a vital artery for commerce arriving from Canada to the northeast United States.

Designed to provide a new iconic gateway into the United States, the site organization of the new Port is the result of unique sets of functional requirements, vehicular circulation strategies and site challenges. The collection of structures includes the Main Building, Secondary Inspection, Commercial Building, Non-Intrusive Inspection, Animal/Plant/Health Inspection, Veterinary Services (APHIS-VS,) Hazmat Containment and an Outbound Inspection facility. The Main Building anchors the port; its north end features a prominent, elevated prow marking a newly visible entry feature into the United States.

An elevated 162-car parking facility spans east-west across the site, connecting each of the major buildings to provide safe and unobstructed circulation. In addition, this structure also serves as an infrastructure spine, carrying utilities and services in its underside. Below the parking deck, 7 lanes of commercial traffic and 8 lanes of non-commercial traffic provide inspection and entry into the United States. To maintain efficient circulation for the large volumes of daily traffic, inspection lanes have increased queuing space and additional passenger booths for processing. The canopy above allows for photo-voltaic panels providing 150KW per year to the new port. Occupying the breadth of the port, this parking structure accommodates for future infrastructure expandability and flexibility.

Morphosis worked with the artist Ann Hamilton on the Art-in-Architecture component to the Land Port of Entry.