Highway could be boon to City of Locks: interstate 73 could open up markets as far south as Florida for Sault businesses.

Sault Ste. Marie -- A new highway trade corridor linking Northern Ontario to the American Southeast may become reality within the next 20 to 30 years.

Designated by the U.S. Congress as a high-priority corridor, the I-73 project is on hold in Michigan and Ohio due to state funding difficulties for new highway expansion.

However, the completion of a new Interstate highway stretching from the Carolinas to the Canadian border at Sault Ste. Marie is inevitable, says a Michigan transportation official.

"Long term, it is definite," says Hugh McNichol, a Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) planner. "The question is how long a term before it becomes that.

"That will happen, it's just a question of when."

If built, the interstate would be the country's longest freeway connecting important markets, north and south, from Carolina's Atlantic ports to the West Virginia coalfields and the Detroit automotive industry.

The unofficial route would cross parts of Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Some areas of the southeastern U.S. are highly enthusiastic about the I-73 project that would connect them to the Great Lakes region and the U.S. Midwest. Construction is already underway in North Carolina and parts of West Virginia, but in the Midwest portion, little progress has been made.

A central-Michigan highway has been discussed since the early 1970s, but Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm does not consider I-73 a high priority project for the immediate future.

McNichol says Michigan's primary focus is rebuilding its existing 40-year-old Interstate system first before considering any new highway expansion. The state is pouring $2.8 billion into a five-year program for road and bridge improvements, spurred on by next year's Super Bowl in Detroit.

The long-term goal is to get 90 per cent of Michigan's roads and bridges in "good or better shape" and have the funds in place to maintain them.

McNichol says the MDOT supports the I-73 concept in principle, since it makes sense to connect a series of roads through central and lower Michigan.

He was project manager on an I-73 corridor study to determine if there was a pathway and enough traffic to warrant a new freeway.

The state conducted the feasibility study in 2000, but did not proceed with the environmental phase since it will be years before the project will likely compete for funding dollars.

McNichol estimates it will likely be 20 to 30 years before the Michigan portion of the project is advanced.

At its northern end, the highway's routing would begin at Sault Ste. Marie and run in tandem with I-75 south to Grayling to the junction with U.S. 127.

Interstate 73 would continue on 127, south to Lansing, Jackson and loop east around Detroit to Toledo, Ohio.

Several potential corridors were introduced through southeastern Michigan to possibly link up with the Ohio Turnpike.

But the options were very controversial since many of the pathways discussed were not up to super-highway standards.

Ohio's Department of Highways has completed some preliminary studies but the I-73 is not at the top of their priority list either.

The state stopped its feasibility study leaving the highway's future in doubt for the immediate term.

"It would be silly for us to build something and have it end in Ohio."

The I-73 project was designated by Congress as a high priority corridor through the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) in 1991.

Chambers of commerce in southern Ohio and West Virginia, which originally pushed the idea, say it will jump start regional economies in certain depressed areas not served by an interstate.

For Michigan, McNichol says a new interstate would improve traffic flows and commercial routes between Michigan and Ohio auto parts suppliers while also opening up a new tourism corridor, creating opportunities for northern Michigan and Canadian firms.

The I-73 would also alleviate two-lane congestion around the Michigan International Speedway and the Irish Hills recreational area.

"We've got a few converts (in the business community) that (believe) this is necessary but also quite a few people who don't want it coming through their area."

North Carolina has identified its deep-water ports as economic engines and has completed portions of the I-73 corridor that would connect them with Midwestern markets.

Fed Ex wants to build a $519-million air cargo express hub at Piedmont Triad International near Greensboro by 2009. An interstate highway loop is under construction to connect with I-73.

Transportation officials from North Carolina and South Carolina were meeting in Myrtle Beach, SC in early February for an I-73 summit and have agreed on a proposed entry point between the two states.

South Carolina and Virginia are conducting environmental impact studies and no official routes have been finalized for their portions of the freeway.

State and federal plans in West Virginia call for a widening of some existing highways from two lanes to four. Their portion of the I-73 would be named the King Coal Highway and, despite some funding difficulties in that state, it is still considered an economic development priority.

Although a highway ribbon cutting may be decades away, McNichol is hopeful work being done in these southern states will pressure Michigan and Ohio to eventually move forward with construction on their portions of the freeway.

He expects as traffic congestion and urban sprawl in southern Michigan worsen over time, the MDOT and the state will revisit the I-73 project again.

"In the time between now and whenever we take that next step, I expect this traffic problem in that corridor will get worse to the point where we will have more converts."

www.michigan.gov/mdot/

By IAN ROSS

Northern Ontario Business