Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Connecting countries: Mexico-to-Canada highway would ease Hoover Dam traffic

Imagine traveling on a highway for more than 3,300 miles with uninterrupted cellular telephone service, up-to-the-minute traffic warnings and Internet connections at rest stops.

Imagine giving freight inspectors and emergency response teams the ability to know whether a truck on the highway contains hazardous cargo, even if it is thousands of miles away. As a bonus, throw in the greatest concentration of national parks in North America.

If you can imagine this, then you also can gain some insight into the concept behind the Canamex corridor, an ambitious 30-year project aimed at connecting Mexico City with Edmonton, Alberta.

Nevada and four other Western states are along the corridor, which in 1995 was designated by Congress as a priority for federal highway funding.

Canamex planners say the highway will produce additional international trade, tourism and jobs.

"When you look at all the national parks and history you have a compelling number of stories that can be told through tourist attractions," Canamex Corridor Coalition Executive Director Carol Sanger said. "This corridor could be marketed like the German castle region or wine country in Northern California. We don't have anything that talks comprehensively about the opening of the West."

This so-called "smart" corridor -- a minimum four-lane highway loaded with modern technology -- is far from reality, however. Although the five states approved a Canamex plan in April, there is no timetable for implementation. That could change as early as this fall when Gov. Kenny Guinn and fellow Western governors will receive an update from Sanger's committee.

The corridor will enter Nevada from the south over the new four-lane bridge planned just below Hoover Dam, travel on U.S. 93 through or around Boulder City, continue through Las Vegas and exit the state via Interstate 15 at Mesquite. At 112 miles, Nevada's portion of the corridor will be the shortest of the 1,504 miles that also will pass through southwestern Arizona, central Utah, eastern Idaho and western Montana.

When Mexico and Canada are added, it becomes a 3,362-mile corridor. That distance could increase by hundreds of miles with proposed improvements along the Alaska Highway, which runs from Edmonton through British Columbia to Alaska. Corridor committee member Jeffrey Fontaine, deputy director of the Nevada Department of Transportation, called Canamex a "corridor of innovation."

"The plan looks at improvements to make the corridor efficient and safe," Fontaine said. "The opportunities for increased tourism and leisure travel are also significant."

Starting from Mexico City, motorists along the route can enjoy the Gulf of California -- which offers some of the world's best sports fishing -- and Mexican coastal resorts such as Mazatlan. In the United States, Canamex travelers can stop at Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, the Great Salt Lake and Yellowstone and Glacier national parks. Crossing the border, motorists can visit Banff National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

Travelers also will be able to use cell phones over the entire route, even in rural areas, thanks to the planned addition of transmission towers along the corridor. Rest stops and truck stops will be converted into information centers, complete with weather conditions, lane closures, highway incidents, and agriculture inspection and trucking permit requirements.

Las Vegas businessman Tom Skancke, a Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority lobbyist who was appointed to the corridor committee by Guinn, brims with enthusiasm about Canamex. There are at least four other proposed corridors that extend from Mexico to Canada, but Skancke said Canamex is far ahead of the others in terms of planning.

"This is a great thing for Nevada," Skancke said. "Nevadans will care about Canamex once they become informed that our study will be implemented and they see the benefits."

Most of the corridor involves existing highways, but in this country alone it is anticipated that $3 billion in federal and state funds will be needed to implement the Canamex plan over the next 30 years. Nevada's share will be roughly $220 million, about what it takes to build 25 elementary schools but fund only a slice of a megaresort.

Optimists project that Canamex could add 240,000 jobs to Nevada by 2030. Skancke said slightly more than half of those jobs would come from Internet-based companies that locate in this state to be near the corridor for shipping purposes. Most of the other new jobs will involve highway construction and engineering, telecommunications, tourism and freight services, he said.

"It's probably one of the most exciting projects that Southern Nevada could have because of the number of jobs and the fact that Canamex will be the first of its kind," Skancke said.

But the proposed corridor is not without some speed bumps. One sticky issue has been the concern congressmen have voiced over the safety of Mexican trucks.

Mexican haulers may drive just 20 miles into the United States before their cargo must be transferred to trucks from this country. The Bush administration, in accordance with the North American Free Trade Agreement, wants to permit Mexican trucks to travel anywhere in the United States, beginning in January.

Trucking woes

Many congressmen, however, want tougher inspection standards for Mexican trucks. The Senate on Thursday approved a $60 billion transportation bill that included tougher safety standards for those trucks, a bill Bush has threatened to veto. In response, Mexican President Vicente Fox threatened to ban U.S. trucks from entering his country.

The bill, however, has received the support of labor organizations that have opposed NAFTA in part because they fear the treaty will come at the expense of American jobs. Rick Knight, business agent for Teamsters & Truck Drivers Local 631 in Las Vegas, said he wrote letters to Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign about his union's concerns.

"The Mexican government doesn't have the training requirements we have for truck drivers in this country," Knight said. "One of our regulations is to drive no more than 10 hours a day. Mexican drivers can drive all night. We have to have our vehicles inspected yearly, but they don't have that.

"What we're talking about are accidents waiting to happen. If their brakes aren't up to par, whoever is in front of them will feel the consequences."

Not surprisingly, the Mexican government is not taking kindly to criticism of its truckers.

Juan Jose Salgado, head of the Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino, Calif., said drivers from his country merely want the same privileges accorded haulers from the United States and Canada.

"What Mexico is asking for is to respect the NAFTA treaty," Salgado said. "Mexico is not asking for more privileges but the same the United States gives to Canadian truckers. There is no real intention that bad trucks from Mexico enter the United States. There are only a few bad trucks in Mexico that don't comply. There are trucks in the U.S. in the same condition."

Salgado conceded that a potentially greater dilemma for Mexico is its limited ability to afford the type of highway improvements Canamex planners envision. Some Mexican highways are privately built, with the investing companies recouping money through tolls. But Salgado said this has not been a very profitable option, forcing Fox to consider tax increases to fund highway improvements.

Still, four Mexican states -- Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit and Jalisco -- have decided to discuss potential corridor improvements.

"There is no question in my mind that they will support this," Sanger said of the Mexican government. "The Fox administration has stated over and over again its priority of making the border more porous."

Canada is actually furthest along among the three nations, having already spent more than $500 million to improve its portion of the corridor, with commitments to spend an additional $700 million. Part of Alberta's advantage is that it can act quicker on corridor improvements and go through less bureaucracy than is the case with the five U.S. states.

NAFTA has increased trade between the United States and Canada since its implementation in 1994, and that will only improve with Canamex, said Rod Thompson, executive director of policy development for Alberta Transportation. Thompson, whose agency is equivalent to Nevada's Department of Transportation, said the corridor will reduce trucking costs and therefore save consumers money through the use of modern technology.

Trucks that cross the Mexican and Canadian borders will be equipped with transponders containing information about the driver, truck and cargo. Thompson said he expects the transponders to reduce long delays at state inspection stations along the corridor because of the ease with which information can be retrieved by inspectors.

"One of the things we're looking at is harmonizing regulations so that things move along," Thompson said. "A real problem is harmonizing the trucking regulations you find in the United States. But our concerns are the same as yours. All trucks should meet the same safety regulations. We don't want to compromise on that at all."

Among the five states, the most visibly enthusiastic about Canamex has been Arizona. The state's businesses formed the Western Canamex Coalition. And Nogales, Ariz., which is the border entry point from Mexico to the United States, has dubbed itself "Gateway to Canamex." Nogales, population 20,878, often finds itself in Tucson's shadow.

Arizona enthusiasm

"Canamex will give us an opportunity to be big and not just be a little dot on the map," Nogales spokesman Juan Guzman said. "It will provide us with about 800 jobs. There's going to be a lot of skill work and a lot of jobs in the customs area. People who pass through will buy goods and gas."

Western Canamex Coalition spokesman David Steele said he envisions more high-tech businesses locating in southern Arizona, where they can use the corridor to ship parts to Mexican assembly plants, taking advantage of inexpensive labor.

"Trade and commerce are like water," Steele said. "They flow along the path of least resistance."

Canamex will also be of particular help to western Mexican farmers, who truck tomatoes, squash and other produce through Nogales into this country. Because of congestion at the border, Mexican trucks often are backed up as much as eight miles. In some cases, they wait more than half the day to cross into the United States.

Salgado said the problem is aggravated by the long wait Mexican truckers often endure to transfer the produce to U.S. haulers. But Kathleen Vandervoet, spokeswoman for the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas in Nogales, said one proposed Canamex option is to increase the number of cargo lanes crossing the border, a move that she said would drastically reduce the waiting lines.

"Our main interest is getting produce to market more quickly," said Vandervoet, whose association represents U.S. sales agents for Mexican farmers. "On average, with Canamex, we hope you will see produce arrive 24 hours sooner."

Canamex is barely known within Southern Nevada's business community. The Nevada Development Authority, which recruits business to this state, has not studied the issue.

"It's not on the radar screen right now," Keith Schwer, director of UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research, said.

Much of that probably has to do with the relative good health of Nevada's economy when compared to the other states. Through May, Nevada enjoyed a 4.4 percent job growth rate this year, compared to a 0.8 percent increase in Utah and a 0.2 percent decline in Arizona, Schwer said.

Still, Las Vegas has reason to get excited from a tourism standpoint, particularly since the Canamex plan calls for the widening of U.S. 93 from Wickenburg to Kingman in Arizona. This treacherous, mostly two-lane, hilly road with hairpin curves is lined with crucifixes, which serve as memorials for motorists killed there.

To Arizona's credit, some of the treachery has been removed in recent years with the addition of strategically placed passing lanes. Eventually, the plan is to make this a four-lane highway, which would make it easier for Phoenix residents to travel to Las Vegas.

"Anything that improves infrastructure in and out of Las Vegas and makes it easier for people to get here will be good for Las Vegas," LVCVA spokesman Rob Powers said. "You can make the argument that having an additional lane on U.S. 93 and making it less dangerous will help."

The future of a separate segment of U.S. 93 has many Boulder City residents up in arms. In response to increased traffic the Nevada Department of Transportation is studying proposals to either widen the highway through the city or create a bypass to the south. The latter is the preference of some residents, who don't want noisy traffic disrupting their quiet communities.

These residents, who call themselves the Boulder City Bypass Coalition, have hired former Sen. Richard Bryan as their attorney.

"It is our judgment that the bypass would have less impact on the Boulder City lifestyle and not change the character of the community," Bryan said.

No matter what route is accepted by the Federal Highway Administration -- a decision expected sometime next year -- Canamex will still be part of that highway.

But Bill Ferrence, manager of the Boulder Dam Credit Union, said he fears Boulder City businesses will suffer if U.S. 93 is routed so that motorists are discouraged from stopping in town. Many of its eateries and shops rely on tourists who visit neighboring Hoover Dam.

"We could see boarded-up storefronts that would change the ambiance and quaint feeling that Boulder City provides its people," Ferrence said. "We have many businesses that are reliant on that traffic."

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