Halifax – In what can be called one of the most significant transborder projects to date in Atlantica, the Request for Proposals has been issued for a major Atlantica infrastructure study that encompasses both sides of the US – Canada border.

The study will examine transportation and economic conditions across the region of central Maine and the northern tier of New Hampshire, Vermont and New York State, as well as the adjacent Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec and eastern Ontario.

“This is a major forward step for AIMS’ Atlantica concept,” says AIMS president Brian Lee Crowley. “At the end of the process we will have a study of the existing infrastructure and the needs of the international northeast economic region. But more, we will have the precedent of the governments of four US states, five Canadian provinces and the two national governments working together.”

Northeast CanAm Connections: Integrating the Economy and Transportation is the title for the study originally called the Northeast Border Corridor Transportation and Economic Development Study. The Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) is serving as lead agency for this project, which is a cooperative effort involving transportation and economic development departments of the designated states and provinces. Funding is coming from the (US) National Corridor Planning and Development Program and Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program. Economic Development Research Group, Inc. has been retained by MaineDOT to serve as Project Management Consultant to guide the development of this scope of work.

The deadline for RFP submissions is December 16, 2005. The contract is likely to be awarded by February of 2006 with work beginning in March. It is expected the study will take 12 months to complete.

The focus of the project will be the corridor from the Atlantic Seaboard to the Great Lakes spanning both sides of the border. It will look at the untapped potential of our ports and an expanded role for Atlantica as a gateway to the North American heartland. The study will encompass all modes of transportation links within the region and with other regions, extending from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Seaboard.

Meanwhile, AIMS continues to lead a group of interested parties from both sides of the border to ensure that the region presents a coherent strategy for its transportation needs and a united front in support of that strategy before the group charged with carrying out the study.

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For more information, contact:

Brian Lee Crowley
President – Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
902-499-1998

To read the RFP document, click here.

To connect to the Northeast CanAm Connections website, click here.