BANGOR – The federal government has agreed to fund and undertake a comprehensive study of transportation that could bolster the cause of an east-west interstate highway.

Sen. Susan Collins announced the Federal Highway Administration’s commitment to the study during a meeting of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. Collins is running for re-election and she and her Democratic opponent, Chellie Pingree, participated in a candidate forum during the chamber’s breakfast meeting.

The study will attempt to define the deficiencies in the Northeast border corridor and should provide critical information to the planning process for an east-west highway. The study will take in the entire corridor running from the Canadian Maritime Provinces, across Maine and northern New England and then into Quebec, northern New York and Ontario. It will deal with highway, rail, air and sea transportation networks.

“This is extremely significant,” said Timothy Woodcock, a former Bangor mayor and member of the East-West Highway Association’s board of directors. “It is an absolutely huge accomplishment and will provide very valuable information on the transportation needs of the region.”

Woodcock said the study marks the first time the entire region would be placed under the scrutiny of transportation planners. He said the findings would be “critically important” to determining if the region can improve economically with better transportation networks. He described the economy of northeast Maine as “distressed” and said the study would determine what role transportation was playing in that equation.

The study is expected to assess the strengths and weaknesses of various modes of transportation in the region and the relationship between transportation connections and potential economic growth. The study is scheduled to begin once the transportation appropriations bill for fiscal 2003 becomes law.

Caileen Nutter, Collins’ deputy press secretary, said she was unable to provide an estimated cost for the study because the Department of Transportation was still determining how long it would take to conduct and at what expense.

Marie Fuentes of Maine Better Transportation said winning approval of the study sends a message that the government is serious about addressing transportation issues in the Northeast. She said the assessment will allow planners to identify specific segments of the economy and how better transportation could lead to improvements.

Fuentes said the Northeast “has been at a clear disadvantage” as a result of planning efforts that focused on transportation needs of other states and regions.

“I was very excited to hear this,” said Fuentes. “I think this is something that is really significant and I think it’s great that we are looking at the region and that we recognize the need to work with Canada. This sends a message that we want to be serious about transportation. I really see this as a great opportunity.”

In a prepared statement, Collins noted that the Northeast was by far the largest geographic region east of Chicago without an east-west interstate highway. She said the relative lack of economic growth in many parts of the region was believed to be, in part, the result of its inadequate transportation connections to adjoining regions.

“Unlike virtually every other region of the United States, Maine and other northeastern states have no comprehensive and integrated modern highway link running east to west,” Collins noted. “The path to an east-west highway must begin with a comprehensive study. … I am confident that this study will highlight the serious transportation deficiencies in this Northeast border corridor as well as the critical economic boost an east-west highway would bring to Maine and the rest of the region.”