Pittsburg/Chartierville Border Crossing, New Hampshire

The Pittsburg/Chartierville Border Crossing, on Route 3, is the only official crossing point on New Hamphire’s 58 miles of international border with Canada. Around 10,000 vehicles pass through here a year. It is located on the section of border known as the Highlands, a meandering line along the ridgeline, following the drainage divide between the St. Lawrence River and the Connecticut River. Unlike on the straight sections of the border, where line of sight cut-lines through the woods are studded with camera stations that enable border patrols to monitor movement, and travel to intercept interlopers, the meandering Highlands make remote monitoring and interdiction very difficult. Here border patrols rely more on motion sensors and agents in the field, on foot and in ATVs. And aircraft.