Grand Island, N.Y. (WBEN) - Three days into prolonged delays for truckers and commercial drivers headed into Canada has many frustrated and angry.
Some, like Pete Bergland, who was parked at the former Summit Park Mall in Niagara Falls, has some concerns that the cut flowers he was transporting from Miami to Toronto may not survive the delay.
Bergland was concerned that if the flowers wilted, he would not get paid for his load. He also hasn't eaten since Wednesday afternoon after arriving at the mall's barren parking lot just after 1 a.m. Thursday.
"I guess I'm on a diet today," Bergland joked.
The impact, caused by a system outage and failure within the Canada Border Services Agency network, is causing massive traffic tie-ups across the region and for all 11 U.S. states that border Canada.
The Canada Border Services Agency says the outage issues have been resolved, but truck back-ups remain because of the delays coupled with the steady flow of commercial traffic between the U.S. and Canada.
"I find it very frustrating," said Simon Smith, who was bringing a truck load of plastic bottles from New Jersey to Toronto, and was waiting for clearance to cross the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge.
The delays caused Smith to not only miss a friend's birthday party, but it is also costing $450 per-day in lost wages, or $1,350 since he has been parked at the Western New York Welcome Center on Grand Island.
"You thought it would be fixed by now and there won't be any delays," Smith said.