January 2025 Vol 23 Issue 1

January 2025 Volume 23 Issue 1

We are a voice for our small town, grassroots members who may otherwise not have access to the right audiences, as well as a conduit for industry to come together in support and promotion of transportation improvements.

We are committed to working as an Alliance to improve transportation infrastructure and business networks opportunities, by advocating for appropriate funding levels, so business and industry can thrive.

We are focused on the economic and business interests that are the lifeblood of the region.

Be Sure Newsletter Email is Allowed

As you may have noticed, the monthly Ports-to-Plains Newsletter is sent through our member database. Please be sure the email address pal@memberclicks-mail.net is allowed on your system.

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

The Federal Transportation Bill known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) is set to expire in 2026. Already, on Capitol Hill, debates have started addressing the merits and shortfalls of the existing program in anticipation of reauthorization next year. Some of that testimony is focusing on the best way to distribute the funding to the States. The DOT experience in me sides with the arguments that “distribution by formula” to the State DOT’s is the most efficient and effective way to utilize the federal funds collected from the various federal fuel taxes. Part of this argument is being stirred up by the overreliance on grants in the current transportation bill which has generated an excessive amount of inefficient administrative costs. The argument continues that the states can more efficiently utilize that federal funding in accordance with the performance standards that each DOT is required to establish and follow. I can agree with all those arguments. But let me recall a little history about our country’s transportation program.

In Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, the Congress was given the power to establish post offices and post roads. There, nestled in among all the other powers of our Congress, was the authority to build a road system to support the development and distribution of the U.S. mail. Think about how that has played out over the next two hundred plus years. Of course, before we look at that timeline, we must understand the significance of the Constitution’s influence on state and federal powers. At the time of the signing, there were some activities that our new states were not effectively capable of conducting independently including banking regulation, trade, and commerce which included reliable transportation. Adding post roads to congressional duties became the foundation for the evolution of our nation’s transportation network.

Early transportation networks included the colonial road system later known as U.S. Route 1 which included Indian trails such as the Pequot Path and The Old Connecticut and Bay Path connecting Boston with New York. The National Road also known as Route 40, was the first federally funded road in the United States. This transportation highway utilized the Cumberland Trail and connected the East Coast with all the emerging US western settlements. Other federal highways sprang up as the country continued to expand westward. The Federal Road created a connection with the states of Georgia and Tennessee to the Port of Mobile Alabama. The Great Wagon Road provided a north/south connection with Pennsylvania and Georgia. Daniel Boone scouted the Wilderness Road, which also used the Cumberland Gap to trace a path from the Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River. The 440-mile Natchez Trace linked the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers.

Further out west the influence of the Spanish upon our current transportation system becomes evident with the El Camino Real or King’s Highway as some of our routes today follow those paths in several of our western states. Other major trails that later influenced our transportation network out west included the Morman and Oregon Trails connecting populations like St. Louis and Chicago with Utah and the upper West Coast.

I am sure I could go on and on, but by the time we came to the end of the nineteenth century and the first hundred plus years of our country a national transportation network was taking shape. I will not spend time describing the influence that the railroad had on our transportation system other than the fact that they were used by the U.S. government to carry out their constitutional charge to transport mail. Another influencer on our transportation system was the Overland Mail Routes that delivered mail from St. Louis Missouri and Memphis Tennessee to California. Four miles from my farm today at Happy Valley Texas is a historic marker recognizing the Shep Station of the Butterfield Stage and Mail route which snaked its way across Texas, southern New Mexico, and Arizona on what is part of IH 10 today. So, the role that the federal government plays in the development of our transportation today is demonstrated in the role it had in the nineteenth century trying to deliver our mail.

Next month I will discuss the role that advocacy, including our Ports-to-Plains work, has had in helping with the evolution and shaping of our transportation network in the twentieth and twentieth-first century today.

more to come …

Lauren D. Garduño

Canada-United States Trade

Trade is an important segment of both the U.S. and Canadian Economy. The Ports-to-Plains Alliance Corridor, including both the Heartland Expressway and Theodore Roosevelt Expressway, connects to Canada, Mexico and domestic markets. This article will focus on the PTP States’ Trade relationship with Canada. Canada plays an important role in providing a market for U.S. Food, Fiber and Fuel.

States Where Canada is the Top Export Destination:

For seven of our nine Ports-to-Plains Alliance States, Canada is the largest trading partner. In addition, Texas may have a larger trade relationship with Mexico, but as shown below, Texas has the largest value trade relationship of any of the PTP States.

Colorado's Top 5 Export Products-to-Canada
2023 (Millions USD).

Montana's Top 5 Export Products-to-Canada
2023 (Millions USD)

Nebraska's Top 5 Export Products-to-Canada
2023 (Millions USD)

New Mexico's Top 5 Export Products-to-Canada
2023 (Millions USD)

North Dakota's Top 5 Export Products-to-Canada
2023 (Millions USD)

Oklahoma's Top 5 Export Products-to-Canada
2023 (Millions USD)

South Dakota's Top 5 Export Products-to-Canada
2023 (Millions USD)

Texas’ Top 5 Export Products-to-Canada
2023 (Millions USD)

Wyoming's Top 5 Export Products-to-Canada
2023 (Millions USD)

I-27 Feasibility Study from Amarillo to Dumas

In the November 2024 Newsletter, the I-27 Feasibility Study from Amarillo to Dumas was described. CLICK HERE This Study starts the planning for the Future Interstate Segment between Amarillo and Dumas, and City Location Studies for Amarillo (SL 335) and Dumas.

This month, will be an update, including a video overview. This video, while specific to the I-27 Feasibility Study from Amarillo to Dumas, provides other communities an overview of how Project Feasibility Studies will be carried out for other Future Interstate Segments and City Location Studies. (See Map above for these locations.)

2025 Washington DC Fly-in

The Ports-to-Plains Alliance requests participation from your organization for the 2025 Washington DC Fly-in scheduled March 24-27, 2025. Please share this with your members. This Fly-in, like those in the past, have a significant impact. It is our annual opportunity to show the variety of organizations supporting the Ports-to-Plains Successes, Needs and Policy Positions.

The Ports-to-Plains Alliance Federal Lobby Team from Hance Scarborough LLP will attempt to schedule meetings with all Senate and House members, and/or Staff, and federal agencies along the nine-state Corridor.

The Alliance will also provide Federal Policy Priorities to share with members and agencies. Participants will be scheduled into meetings with a priority to participate in meeting with their state members of Congress. We try to schedule at least 3-5 participants into each meeting with a mix of experienced and new participants.

What will be on the Agenda?
- Successes from the past year
- Vision for the Corridor
- Reauthorization of the Transportation Bill
- Importance of Funding Rural Corridors
  - Formula funding to State DOTs
  - Value of Congressionally Designated Spending and Community Funding Projects through the Appropriations process
  - Value of Discretionary Grants (i.e. RAISE, INFRA, Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program)

THE ALLIANCE NEEDS PARTICIPATION FROM EACH STATE AND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.

Date: March 24-27, 2025

Schedule:

Sunday March 23rd - Travel
Monday, March 24th – Travel and Ports-to-Plains Alliance Board Meeting at 4:30 PM EST
Tuesday, March 25th – U.S. House of Representatives Office Meetings & Evening Reception for Members of Congress and their staff.
Wednesday, March 26th – U.S. Senate Office Meetings
Thursday, March 27th – Overflow Congressional and Agency Meetings
Friday, March 28th - Travel

Hotel:

Embassy Suites by Hilton Washington DC Georgetown
Rooms will be available from Sunday, March 23rd to Friday, March 28th
- 1250 22nd Street NW
- Washington DC 20037
- Ph. 202-857-3388
- Map & Directions

PLEASE BOOK YOUR HOTEL NOW BEFORE IT CLOSES!

Please find the booking link below for the Ports-to-Plains DC Fly-In group, arriving from March 23, 2025, to March 29, 2025. If guests prefer to call in, they can use the 3-letter code POR.

Booking Link

Please let Tina Scarborough (tina.scarborough@portstoplains.com) and Joe Kiely (joe.kiely@portstoplains.com) know if you are able to participate.