Push Continues on Hwy 2: Alliance Says Improving Highway 2 is Key to Economic Development
Published on August 29, 2011
A representative of a group trying to improve transportation infrastructure and stimulate trade in a 10-state region including Montana said during a meeting of the Highway 2 Association in Havre Wednesday that a key to improving the economy and sustaining rural communities is investing in highways.
But, Joe Kiely of Limon, Colo., vice president of operations for the Ports-to-Plains Alliance said, that will take effort and money from local groups as well as state and federal leaders.
He said Montana needs to remember that U. S. Highway 2 — along with north-south routes and the U. S.-Canadian border — is a key to successful Montana trade and economic development.
“Please understand that your second-largest trading partner along this corridor is not south of you, it is east of you. And that’s what makes Highway 2 something that is important to you in the future, ” Kiely said.
The Highway 2 Association, which has as a prime goal upgrading Highway 2 to four lanes across the state, has been working closely with Ports-to-Plains for about five years. Ports to Plains, formed nearly 15 years ago, advocates improving transportation in the corridor from Texas to Alberta “to promote economic security and prosperity throughout North America's energy and agricultural heartland. ” Read full article written by Tim Leeds from the Havre Daily News