CALGARY -- A steady stream of travellers were seen entering and leaving the country at the Coutts border crossing south of Lethbridge on the day Canada and the United States agreed to halt all non-essential travel at the border.
Josh Costello lives in Newfoundland, but when he heard Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urge all Canadians abroad to get home as soon as possible, he hopped in his car for a 14-hour journey north to Coutts from Las Vegas, so he would not be locked out.
"It was maybe a 20-minute wait, there were a couple of trucks in front of me," said Costello from the border.
"I was like, the writing is on the wall, it's time to go."
One economist believes that with trying times in the economy, Alberta’s tourism industry will be the hardest hit when it comes to a 49th parallel shut down.
"I do think that was happening anyways, with all the flight cancellations and restrictions on travel," said Eugene Beaulieu, an economics professor at the University of Calgary.
Commercial truck drivers are still allowed to travel freely between both countries, delivering goods and services.
"We saw over ten million trans border movements, 70 per cent of the movements in Canada are by trucks," said Alberta Motor Transport Association president Chris Nash.
Ed Flood is a truck driver who hauls between Crossfield, Alta., and Colorado. He said a shutdown of commercial goods at the border will leave truckers scrambling for a pay cheque.
"Lot of us truck drivers, that's how we make our livelihood,” said Flood.
"If they shut it down, put it this way, if they shut it down for a week people will be panicking."
One duty free cashier relies on truckers for business.
"We need them going back and forth because otherwise we are going to have empty grocery stores," said Lori Minor.
But a full border closure is less likely, according to Beaulieu.
"I don't see it getting to the state of commercial traffic but that’s always a possibility," he said.
