Controversy Erupts Over NASCO and the NAFTA Super-Highway

Human Events Online ^ | Jun 26, 2006 | Jerome R. Corsi

[ckilmer]

desperate people do desperate things. The idea above would make for fewer desperate people.

[1rudeboy]

Can anybody find the E.O. creating the Security and Prosperity Partnership? I've searched back through 2004 and cannot find it.

[hedgetrimmer]

I corrected that statement.

[processing please hold]

Thanks, the last thing I want to do is sound like a nutter when I try to open someones eyes about the situation in our country.

I'll check out the site now.

[Doctor Stochastic]

For about 150 years, people have been trying to get some type of transportation line from Kansas City to the West Coast. The shortest goes south through Presidio Texas, Chihuahua City, and Topolobampo in Sinaloa (spellings?). There was a rail line there about 40 years ago (I've taken the train.) which goes through the Barranca del Cobre, a canyon somewhat larger than the Grand Canyon. It's economically a good idea, except: (hah!) Mexico's government is so corrupt that they can't even make this break even. Topolombampo has a beautiful harbor, much like LAN Francisco's but larger.

The "private sector" has been shipping through Laredo and Nuevo Laredo for years; this is one of the largest PoE's in the US. Again, the corruption of the border officials (and now the drug lords) makes it not so feasible.

What drives these things is that water shipment is cheaper than rail or road shipment. Even a small savings is important when moving lots of merchandise.

[RJL]

Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas

A jobs program for thousands of Mexican truck drivers, paid for by the United States. It will also be a five lane expressway for illegals entering the United States.

No Thanks.

[deport]

Get 'R Done

[DManA]

What a wonderful hopeful vision you portray. I'll have to check out your link.

[Ben Ficklin]

"Why do we need this massive system in the middle of the country.....?"

You shouldn't believe what Corsi is writing.

This road is but one of the US High Priority Corridors

While Corsi may call this the NAFTA highway, it isn't. The NAFTA Highway is actually the proposed I 69 from Laredo to Port Huron.

As far as the nation, I 69 is the most important. The TTC 35 that Corsi is talking about is most important to Texas because I 35 is is extremely crowded.

[Ben Ficklin]

"secure Canada and Mexico"

Its called pushing out the border.

[hedgetrimmer]

Following the implementation of NAFTA, coalitions of interest have been formed in order to promote specific transport channels, to develop the infrastructures of these channels and to propose jurisdictional amendments to facilitate the crossing of borders. These coalitions include businesses, government agencies, civil organizations, metropolitan areas, rural communities and also individuals, wishing to strengthen the commercial hubs of their regions.

The North American trade corridors are bi- or tri-national channels for which various cross-border interests have grouped together in order to develop or consolidate the infrastructures. The North American corridors are considered multimodal in the sense that they bring into play different modes of transport in succession.

The infrastructures may include roads, highways, transit routes, airports, pipelines, railways and train stations, river canal systems and port facilities, telecommunications networks and teleports.

http://www.fina-nafi.org/eng/integ/corridors.asp?langue=eng#ouest

[winodog]

Thanks for the info. I can be sold on the need for better roads and shipping throughout America. I cant be sold on exporting and importing all these vital goods from a country that is as corrupt and unfriendly to America as Mexico is.

Lets improve our ports first.

[janetgreen]

I can be sold on the need for better roads and shipping throughout America. I cant be sold on exporting and importing all these vital goods from a country that is as corrupt and unfriendly to America as Mexico is. Lets improve our ports first.

BTTT!

American jobs are more important than what this globalist president has in store for us.

[deport]

Lets improve our ports first.

---

Agree that their capabilites need to be improved/expanded. But the ground transportation is still a problem today and long range plans need to be devised today to begin the process so that the loads can be handle as the ports improve.

Here's a little tidbit about Tower 55 in the DFW area that is a huge bottleneck for rail transportation and will only get worse unless changes are made. This is a portion of the Texas transportation problem and is being looked at as port of the TTC concept.

Tower 55
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/columnists/jack_z_smith/14074927.htm
.....
The outlying freight rail corridor could help relieve congestion at Tower 55, a rail hub on the southeast edge of downtown Fort Worth where the north-south Burlington Northern Santa Fe and east-west Union Pacific tracks meet at grade to form one of the worst train choke points in the nation. ("At grade" means that the tracks intersect on the same level rather than one passing over the other.)

The congestion at Tower 55 is akin to the nightmarish auto and truck gridlock that would occur if there were a traffic stoplight at Interstates 35W and 30 in downtown Fort Worth, said Mike Sims, a COG senior program manager for transportation.

"Most rail people say [Tower 55] is the busiest rail intersection at grade west of the Mississippi," Sims said

Some reports say that Tower 55 has as many as 120 trains a day on it's busiest days and on average is occupied 70% of the time.

[winodog]

I know there is talk about having all the containers from LB trucked or railed into a out of the way location.That would be the port of entry and containers would be inspected and unloaded there.

There is a massive bottleneck there and all over America. I would like the President to step up to the soapbox and tell us IF something is being done and what that something is.

[deport]

I know there is talk about having all the containers from LB trucked or railed into a out of the way location.That would be the port of entry and containers would be inspected and unloaded there.

---

The Kansas City Smart Port is planning the same approach. They plan to have a Mexico Customs facility onsite at their 'inland port facility' so that goods leaving the US won't have to stop at the border. Apparently KC is a cross hub in middle America.

[processing please hold]

Thanks, I'll bookmarked it.

[winodog]

So we will wind up shipping most goods through Mexico instead of our west coast ports?

Doesnt this go through Nuevo Laredo? It is not safe for Americans to walk the streets just across the border.

I am not convinced this is good for Americans. Mexico needs to make progress to becoming a good neighbor first IMHO.

[1rudeboy]

Lets improve our ports first.

Are you nuts? We can barely get our longshoremen to use bar-code scanners.

[winodog]

Yes I am. Nonetheless I believe the cons outweigh the pros.