Local residents are hoping it won't take too long to re-open the border crossing south of Cartwright.

Officials with Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) closed the port of entry on August 10th after finding asbestos, and local residents are anxious to know when the crossing to get back into Canada will be up and running again.

CBSA will only say it’s a temporary closure and they are trying to decide how to move forward.

Area residents are still able to cross into the U-S, but they’ve been told they now have to travel to neighbouring Canadian crossings to come back into Canada.

Dustin Mymko is the Community Development Officer for the Municipality of Cartwright-Roblin. “We were quite surprised because the American side has a pretty new facility and everything is fancy on their side and then you find out that on our side, for the return trip, is now non functional it is a bit of a surprise.”

Mymko adds it is a big deal for many residents in the region because there is a lot of two way traffic through that port as residents and businesses make many trips across the border to places like Rolla in North Dakota.

“Now it takes five minutes to get across and it will be 45 minutes to get back and we have several businesses that do a lot of business back and forth so this has had an impact on our day to day lives,” said Mymko.

Officials aren’t sure if there is much they can do to speed up the reopening, but they have already touched base with MP Larry Maguire to make sure he knows it is an issue for area residents and to see if he can do anything to put pressure on people to get work done.

CBSA is currently working with Public Services and Procurement Canada to determine next steps.

Employees at the facility have been assigned to neighbouring ports at this time.