Calais Business Owners Both Optimistic and Worried About New Border Crossing

CALAIS (NEWS CENTER) -- Business owners in Calais are unsure whether the new border crossing that just opened will help or hurt them.

The third border crossing opened just off of Route 1 as you head into Calais.

From this point on, all commercial vehicles traveling into the U.S. from nearby New Brunswick will be required to use it, and that is causing quite a stir among business owners on Main Street, which is located right near one of the older crossings on the Ferry Point Bridge. 

While some worry that tourists will now bypass the town altogether, others feel that the lack of congestion due to trucks will now make it easier for regular customers from Canada to visit.

"We see a lot of the local traffic, especially traffic up in the St. John area, that is used to coming and shopping at the border," said Carl Royer, who owns the "My Favorite Things" store on Main Street, "They'll come down more readily now because they know that there's not going to be the hour or hour and a half long line on the weekends."

The new boarder station in Calais will be officially dedicated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday.