Alburgh/Noyan Port of Entry Building, Vermont

This official building is a shared Port of Entry, intentionally built on the boundary, allowing customs and immigrations officers from both countries to work in one structure. Built in the early 1980s, this was the first of this type, intended to be more efficient in terms of operating costs, and space. Designed with input from the Boundary Commission, the building has floor to ceiling windows on either side where the boundary passes through it, preserving the line of sight along the boundary, symbolically at least. Inside, this shared part of the office is a kind of international zone, an underutilized break area, with a table, water cooler, and a dehydrated ficus tree. While the officials carry out their duties in separate spaces, with windows to interview the drivers coming and going on opposite sides of the building, they work within earshot of one another, so there is some office banter, and occasional official business that benefits from the proximity. The shared space also has the more fundamental effect of uniting the two forces in their common task, as, despite being governed by separate laws, and facing different directions, they are, essentially, doing the same thing. Uniting the enforcement teams under one roof suggests that they work, together, for a greater good, in international space. At least that was part of the idea, though only five of these shared Ports of Entry have been constructed, and the two built in the post 9/11 period are severely divided inside. The agents here have lots of time to chat though, as the Alburgh/Noyan crossing is one of the slowest in the state, with as few as 20 cars per day. Looking east, outside the inspectors window on the Canadian side, is an old line house, abandoned and crumbling in the bushes, across the road. Heading west, this is the last of the 15 manned border crossing stations in Vermont.