In the interest of providing active protection for commuters from the danger earthquakes pose to the tunnel, an earthquake early warning system called Shakealarm was installed and commissioned in 2009. This was the first application of a commercialized earthquake early warning system (EEWS) to protect critical infrastructure in North America. Capable of detecting earthquakes with seconds to minutes of warning time the installation on George Massey Tunnel is designed to close the gates at either end of the tunnel so that no one can enter if a dangerous quake is inbound, and those already inside can exit as normal before shaking begins.