N.E. economic plan gets ‘high priority’

BANGOR – The formation of an international business corridor is being pushed as a “high priority” by New England states and Canadian Maritime provinces struggling to raise their political might in a global economy.

Political and business leaders from New England and the Maritimes gathered Sunday evening at the Bangor Civic Center to kickoff a two-day conference focused on dissolving differences between them and developing a unified voice to solicit recognition – and business dollars – from the world’s economic development stage.

According to Andy Hamilton, president of the East-West Highway Association, the task is tremendous. To build what’s being called a Northeast Alliance, member states and provinces have to push ahead with securing an identifiable name and maximizing resources from all governmental sources to fund the group’s business-procurement goals.

In the United States, currently the New England region is the only one in the nation that has not received the designation of a “high priority corridor” by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, according to Sandy Blitz, executive director of the East-West Highway Association. Once named a “high priority corridor,” regions are eligible for discretionary grants from the government for planning and building new transportation routes. Forty-three areas in the country already are “high priority corridors.”

Blitz said pulp and paper industry officials have cited the poor highway system in Maine as a deterrent to business growth.

Rep. Michael Michaud, Sunday’s keynote speaker, said he recently introduced a measure to make the region between Calais and Watertown, N.Y., a “high priority corridor.” The need for the designation is great, he said, because Congress next year will be considering a new transportation bill that will include what it considers to be major infrastructure routes worthy of federal funding.

Michaud said the corridor status is important to stop the out-migration of people fromrural counties between Calais and Watertown, N.Y., who left to find jobs in suburban areas and to improve per-capita incomes that currently are below the national average.

Michaud told the group of 100 attendees that he wants the East-West Highway to be built. Any plan to improve the economic prosperity of New England and the Maritimes must include that route, he said.

“I don’t need to tell you the kind of impact this critical project will have on the region’s economy,” Michaud said.

He said he wants to secure funding to build “key segments” of what eventually would by the East-West Highway route, but added that his efforts would be easier if Congress would decide to have a “robust transportation bill” instead of a weak one. New construction means new jobs, he said.

“We’re having a little problem with [congressional] leadership coming on board,” Michaud said. “But there’s a growing understanding that this is the way to get the economy moving forward.”

The focus of the conference on Sunday was Michaud’s talk on what he is trying to get accomplished on Capitol Hill to support a Northeast Alliance. This morning, the conference shifts to discussions intended to smooth the political and economic divides between Canada and the United States.

Gov. John Baldacci will address the conference at 8:15 a.m., followed by panel discussions on transportation and international infrastructure. At noon, Michael Gallis, an expert in large-scale metropolitan regional development, will provide suggestions on building the Northeast Alliance.

His talk will be followed by two more panel discussions on regional coherence and border security issues.