The group, which claims members in Mexico, nine U.S. states, along with Alberta, Cypress County and Medicine Hat, lobbies lawmakers at all levels for standardized highway and bridge routing and specifications.
Hyland and others are finding that they’re still trying to sell the idea.
A long-standing local hope of turning the Wildhorse border crossing into Alberta's second 24-hour port was endorsed at the Ports annual general meeting in Medicine Hat in 2012, but progress has been slow.
The Coutts border crossing, as part of the CANAMEX highway system, handles billions of dollars in cross- border trade, but trade groups argue that it is overloaded.
While growth in Alberta has been centred in the Calgary-to-Edmonton corridor, land prices, transportation worries and congestion are a concern.
Eastern proponents say relieving some of that stress is simple: The Highway 41 system, which stretches from the U.S. border south of the Hat to near Bonnyville, provides the straightest route north for large transport trucks.
“The oilsands companies are bringing equipment in pieces, how about putting it together closer to the plants?,” said Hyland. “But the oilsands are only one part.”
North of Medicine Hat, the Special Areas’ sparse population and vast amounts of Crown land makes it a near blank canvas ready for highway redevelopment, wind energy projects, powerline and pipeline right-of-ways, and new oil and gas facilities.
According to the Alberta Government, about $5.15 billion is scheduled to be spent in the corridor on major public and private-sector projects in the next three years. That total does not include twice that amount in scheduled oilsands construction.
That sort of investment could set the stage for the next wave of economic development, but advocates say that long-term, diversification in the largely rural area will begin on building up transportation infrastructure to benefit more fully from the movement of goods northward.
In that vein, Ports has advocated and lobbied to smooth out inconsistencies in bridge decking, highway specifications, and turnarounds to two federal governments, which run the border crossing, as well as state and provincial governments to improve highways, and local town, county, and business groups to make it all happen.
“It makes sense and it will happen, but it takes a coordinated effort of a lot of people,” said Dave Quest, the MLA for Sherwood Park and the Government of Alberta’s representative on the Ports board of directors.
“It’s a momentous task trying to open up a corridor like this. It only takes a few municipalities — especially in the States where highways can be under local jurisdiction — having concerns about weights or wideloads and it messes up the whole thing.”
“It takes a lot of people to make it work but there has been really good progress.”
Recently, Ports annual general meeting in Medicine Hat worked on a resolution supporting increased border access.
The local Chamber of Commerce recently testified in front of the House of Commons finance committee stressing the importance of the expanding crossing and the Alberta Chamber has circulated petitions.
“We’re continuing to push forward there are a number of things that need to be done to see it happen and Ports is an important aspect to that,” said Medicine Hat Member of Parliament LaVar Payne.
While work continues, the landscape is changing.
Lobbying is already in place by the Highway 36 Association, which currently sees most of the megaloads of equipment bound for Fort McMurray and a recent interest to create a similar corridor in Saskatchewan.
Also, public infrastructure budgets in Alberta are expected to tighten over the next few years, and that will mean fewer dollars for lower priority highway projects.
“I think it’s more important than ever right now to step up our efforts,” said Hyland. “And Ports is a big part of that.”
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