East-west highway touted for N.E.

AUGUSTA – Addressing more than 700 people attending Thursday’s 52nd Maine Transportation Conference, Joe Boardman used a laser pointer to highlight a trade route stretching from Mexico to Halifax.

The line proceeded northerly from Texas and bypassed New York into Canada, then continued eastward around the northernmost tip of Maine before swinging south to Nova Scotia. Boardman, the commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation, says the global economy and the North American Free Trade Agreement are directly responsible for what those in left-out Northeastern states might be inclined to call “the NAFTA bypass.”

“Trade is going around us,” he said. “In New York state we’re beginning to realize it. We had the Erie Canal in the past and the Mohawk River and Wood Creek into the Great Lakes. We were the gateway to the West. But we’re not on the trade corridor like we were. The trade corridor is now north and west of us, and a lot of it is going around us. And that impacts everybody in the Northeast.”

Boardman impressed the crowd at the Augusta Civic Center with his grasp of highway economics and the need for New York, Pennsylvania and the New England states to “tell their story” to federal officials in order to obtain assistance in solving a problem created by federal trade policies. At the core of his message was the dream on the minds of nearly every transportation official in the room: the need for an east-west highway.

“We’ve talked about this east-west corridor out of Maine, coming into New York,” Boardman said. “How do we make that real? Where are we going for the future?”

Emphasizing that congressionally designated, high-priority corridors have completely ignored New England and New York, Boardman said the federal government has given “pretty short shrift” to transportation needs in the Northeast section of the country. In contrast, the Mexico-to-Halifax NAFTA corridor has been a focal point of planning.

“What about the NAFTA corridor?” he said. “It’s pretty well-connected, pretty well-thought-of in terms of where it’s going.”

By failing to invest in the Northeast, Boardman said, the federal government decreases the odds of survival for the region. Without enhanced trade links, the population base will become increasingly unreliable, and what people remain will have problems with mobility.

“How does the country keep growing if we don’t take care of the infrastructure and we don’t understand the impact of trade today?” he said. “This NAFTA corridor is going over the top of Maine – not through Maine. And that’s something you need to talk about as a state and we need to talk about as a region.”

Boardman’s message was not lost on Gov-elect John Baldacci and Tim Woodcock, a former Republican candidate for the 2nd Congressional District. Both of the Bangor natives are strong proponents of the east-west highway concept and the need for a regional approach to make the dream a reality. Baldacci welcomed the transportation audience in an 8 a.m. address and touched upon the need to forge links with Maine’s neighbors to improve the state’s transportation future. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Bangor Republican, spoke to the crowd later in the day.

“Boardman understands the broad regional trading patterns that, at this point as our infrastructure is configured, excludes most of Maine,” Woodcock said. “He also understands the change in the economy in which flexibility and reliability of transportation are absolutely critical. He knows that if we’re going to participate in the new economy, we either have to be a destination or be en route to a destination. If we’re neither, we won’t be participating in the new economy and our poor transportation links will play a significant role in preventing our participation.”