QUEBEC – If there is one term officials on both sides of the Maine-Quebec border understand, it’s “cul-de-sac.”

The phrase is French, the dominant language in the city and province of Quebec, but in English it has been accepted as another term for a dead-end street.

Maine has long been considered the cul-de-sac of the Eastern Seaboard in the United States, but, by adopting a different perspective, the state can become more of a focal point for the region, according to a Maine official.

By looking toward Canada, Maine can become “the center of the universe,” Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Cole said half jokingly Friday.Though Maine is considered out of the way for many Americans, it is right in the middle of the way for Canadians looking to get back and forth between Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, Cole said Friday while on Gov. John Baldacci’s economic mission to Quebec.

An east-west highway through Maine which would connect Montreal to New Brunswick and to Nova Scotia’s shipping ports would attract not only more Canadian traffic through the state, but also would attract American businesses looking to tap into the strategic business opportunities such a highway would provide, he said.

“Rather than being the end of the line in the United States, we’re part of a larger region,” Cole said. “It is very much in our interest to see the world in a broader way.”

Cole has been in Quebec this week with Gov. Baldacci, Maine Speaker of the House Patrick Colwell, 2nd District Rep. Michael Michaud, and other Maine officials to help promote government and business contacts between Quebec and Maine.

At a Friday morning breakfast at the Chateau Frontenac hotel, Baldacci told Quebec and Maine business leaders that he met with Quebec Premier Jean Charest on Thursday night in Quebec City to talk about two agreements.

One, which the leaders signed, was to enable law enforcement agencies on either side of the border to share more information. The other – called the North East Atlantic Region program, or NEAR – is a plan to establish more consistent intergovernment contacts in order to better address issues common to Maine and Quebec.

Baldacci said that though New England governors and premiers in Quebec and the Maritime Provinces meet annually, Maine wants to have more frequent contact with Quebec officials and, eventually, those in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

“Once a year is not enough,” Baldacci said. “This is an opportunity to further integrate our relationship much closer.”

While en route Friday morning to tour a Quebec technology business park, Richard Coyle, president of Maine International Trade Center, said that if Maine and Quebec officials get in the habit of contacting each other every couple of weeks, they also could address smaller issues such as exchange programs. For example, officials could find a way to allow Canadian doctors to get course credit for continuing education courses offered by Eastern Maine Healthcare in Bangor, he said.

Maine business leaders and developers on the trip agree, however, that the east-west highway concept is by far the biggest in terms of strengthening Maine’s regional economic importance.

While there are no concrete plans yet to build such a highway, government officials in Quebec and Maine are interested in improving existing roads between the two countries.

Maine has spent $23.5 million during the past decade to improve the northern section of Route 201, has plans to build a new bridge between Calais and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and is considering building a new bridge over the Kennebec River to divert through traffic around Skowhegan, according to Cole.

Canadian officials, in addition to favoring an east-west highway through Maine, have plans to extend Route 73, a four-lane, limited-access highway, farther south toward the northern end of Route 201, Cole said.

“Transportation is the key that will hold it all together,” he said.